Genesis Devotions….

 

                                                  Genesis

 

Genesis One….(v.1)                            God’s Plan

Verse 1….

   The first phrase of the Bible says….”In the beginning, God”. This is where most people start but as we go through the Bible we get little glimpses of eternity past….things that happened before the world was even created. Verse one presupposes that God was there before He started creating.

One of the main attributes of God is that He is a God of Love. How could He possibly display this love to the beings that existed there in eternity with Him? They all obeyed Him implicitly, and there was no reason why they shouldn’t. They had been created to be His ministering spirits to do His slightest command (Hebrews 1:7, 14)

God wanted to display His manifold (many faceted) wisdom to all the principalities and powers of the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:10). How could He do this unless there was a dark backdrop to show His marvelous light against? Unless there is disobedience, perfect obedience doesn’t have any impact.

Therefore it is safe to assume that God had a plan  BEFORE He ever began creation. Not only did He have this plan, but it was written down in detail ahead of time. Jesus Christ could say to His Father, “You have prepared Me a body, as it is written in the volume of the Book” (Hebrews 10:5-7)

God’s plan was written in His Book, Of things the angels wanted to look;

He made the earth so He could show, His love and light for men to know.

                          ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.1)                What WAS God’s Plan?

Verse 1….

   We have seen that God had a plan BEFORE He began His creation work (and is still working to it). From God’s viewpoint, the whole plan was as good as accomplished….now He is just waiting for it to work itself out. After all, He created TIME….ETERNITY is timeless, without time! Time didn’t come into being until the sun, moon and stars were created for without them, there is no measuring rule.

God knew before He began, how He would bring salvation to man….that His only beloved Son (part of Himself) would go to earth to live a sinless life and then be qualified to die to pay the penalty of sin…a Person with no sin of His own (1 Peter 1:20). He knew BEFORE time began, all those who would come to Him in repentance, and wrote their names in the Book of Life (Revelation 17:8b.) He had even prepared a kingdom for them all BEFORE the foundation of the earth was laid  (Matthew 25:34). But all these things were kept a secret from angels and principalities until AFTER Jesus Christ had died and brought salvation to mankind. (Matthew 13:35). It was then that God’s Holy Spirit revealed these truths to His Apostles who wrote them down for us to read today in the Holy Bible. Let’s make sure that we not only read all about these things for ourselves, but that we make sure that our name is in the Book of Life!

God’s plan was written and early made, Before the world’s foundation laid;

Before the sun e’er showed its face, Or time began, God made our space.

                          ***   ***   ***

God’s Books…..

   While on the subject of God’s plan, we will look at His books. It seems that each person has a page (or two!) in God’s books…our genes, make-up, thoughts, deeds, and words are all written down in His books long before we ever thought of, before even the foundation of the world (Psalm 139:15-16).

Our tears and feelings as well as our words are all written down in His Book (Malachi 3:16; Matthew 12:36). What we talk about is all recorded there, and we will have to give an account of it at the day of judgment….we will have to go into detail of every idle word we have ever uttered. If it is not written in a book, then it will be indelibly written in our minds, and maybe that would be worse!

The Book of Life is the most well known of God’s books with several references to it, and this was also written up BEFORE the world began…there are also a couple of mentions of names being blotted out of it…(Revelation 3:5; 17:8b; 22:10)

In the light of all this, how much more important is it to read and ponder the things in God’s Book, the Bible which is so freely available to us today!

God’s books were written long ago, With names and deeds all there to show,

So let us all  make sure we read, His Book today and to it heed!

                          ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.1-2)             Who Created the World?

Verses 1-2….

   Verse one goes on to say, “God created the heaven and the earth”. Who actually did the creating? Many people think that it was God the Father that did the creating, but there are many verses that show the whole Trinity was involved in the creating business. Let’s look at them….

Both the writer to the Hebrews and John say that the Son was involved in the creation and in fact, is still seeing to the upholding of the original creation….keeping it going if you like (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2-3). We also see that the Father and the Son do nothing without including the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:6-8). It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the Son and God’s thruths to mere mortal mankind. All this was ordained and put in order before the world began.

No wonder Paul goes on to write that man hasn’t begun to see and hear the wonderful things that God has in store for His people…..in fact, it is beyond our comprehension while we are earth-bound. (1 Corinthians 2:7-11; Ephesians 3:9-11).

Just as a caterpillar has no comprehension of the freedom and beauty of the fluttering butterfly it will become, so man cannot take in or even imagine what lies ahead!! And this is all part of God’s eternal plan….we don’t know yet what we will become, but we DO know that when we see our Lord Jesus we will become like Him! (1 John 3:2)

God created man to be with Him, To live on earth with Him within;

To be with Him in heav’n above, to know his peace and light and love.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.1-13)            The First Half

Verses 1-13….

   There is a lot more to how the world began than what the modern day scientists think. It started off with no shape of any sort and was dark and empty. We are told that the world has foundations and pillars in the constructions of this globe that we live on (Job 9:6-10)…

Science tells us (and we see it in the eruption of volcanoes) that the centre of the earth is a boiling mass. Just as Matthew tells us that God has already prepared a kingdom for His people, there is already a place prepared for the devil and his angels. This place is popularly supposed to be the centre of the earth, but seeing the outside of the globe is going to be done away with, it could be somewhere more permanent!  (Matthew 25:34, 41; 2 Peter 3:7-13)

We wonder what the source of the original light was, the first thing that God created. The earth was already spinning as there was a clear definition of night and day. The waters above (mists and clouds) were separated from the waters beneath (seas and oceans) by the atmosphere, air and clouds on the second day (Job 38:4-12). The third day brought the dry land, oceans, seas and rivers, as well as the vegetation, and the earth was now ready to bear fruit.

God brought the earth from dark to light, God spoke and it burst into sight,

The air and all the world around, Were put in place, along with their  bounds.

                          ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.14-19)          The Sun, Moon and Stars.

Verses 14-19….

   The next thing that God put into place was the order of the heavens….something that man has never plumbed the depth of. Outer space with its myriad of stars were all put in place by God and given names. Yet puny man dares to defy this One and downgrade His wonderful creation to evolution at the worst and Mother Nature at the best!

We can but say in wonder and awe with the Psalmist, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works! (Psalm 107:8)   And again, “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all!”  (Psalm 104:24)

Man never has and never will, be able to find and count all the stars in the universe…space is impenetrable!

Light was already in existence, but God now made it more definite with the sun and moon giving time and seasons as we know them today. They have never varied since they began, except for the two times mentioned in the Old Testament (Joshua 10:13-14, and Isaiah 38:8) and will continue until the end of time. It is amazing to see the sun move along the edge of the horizon every morning, rising in a different place each day, and with the seasons varying in their set order.

Not only that, but we know that just the right amount of sun reaches the earth for man’s existence…..any more and man would frizzle and any less they would freeze!

God has ordained the moon and sun, Given night when work is done;

The stars come out in scores galore, As man looks up, there still are more!

                          ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.20-23)          Birds and Bees, Fish to Seize

Verses 20-23….

   The waters, rivers and oceans, were now in place and able to sustain life. The rivers flowed down from the heights (Psalm 104:6-8), the moon controlled the tides and the bounds were set for the seas’ waves (Psalm 104:9-10). Trees were growing, flowers blooming, but it was all sterile and empty, just waiting to be populated. What a wonderful conglomeration of life god gave to this waiting globe!!

   The air was filled with birds flying . bees buzzing, all darting. The trees echoed to the bird calls while the nights brought out the fluttering moths, owls and bats. What a variety!

The seas too, suddenly teemed with life, from the greatest whales and sea monsters , down to the tiny whitebait and plankton as well as all the sizes in between. Each species all dovetailed in together and the balance we see in nature today began in perfection.

Sea birds of varying sorts occupied the shores, from those flying with keen eyesight to dive and get their food, to those like the penguins unable to fly in the air, but flying under the sea to catch their food. Each species breeds with its own and never interbreeds even after six thousand years of living in close proximity. There are fresh water fish, salt water fish and some that even go from one to the other !

Oh Lord, how manifold are all your works! In wisdom You have made them all, And the earth is full of Your riches!  (Psalm 104:24)

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.24-26)          Creation Completed!

Verses 24-26….

   The air was now full of life and the waters were teeming with movement, the dry land was covered with trees, grass and flowers waiting for its inhabitants. The sixth day of creation dawned, and God said….

“Bring forth living creatures….from animals to creeping things, large and small” and it was so!! Every creature was perfectly fitted for its natural environment….if man takes them from their natural environment they either die or else overpopulate and make a pest of themselves as possums do in neighbouring countries.

In spite of this abundance of life on earth, there was still nothing that God could communicate with….all creation was joyful before Him and God saw that everything that He had made was good, but it was not enough..

So God said, “Let US make man in our own image” (Psalm 8:4-8). Just as God is a three part Being (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so man has three facets…body, soul and spirit. The body is the case, the soul has the feeling, emotions, and thinking capacity, while man’s spirit is the part of man that is God conscious and feels the need of worshipping a Greater Being. Man’s spirit is the part of man that intertwines with God’s Holy Spirit when searching sincerely for God (John 4:23-24; Romans 8:16, 26-27).

God’s plan was complete, but for one thing, Someone was needed His praises to sing,

Someone to whom He’d communicate, Someone who’d willingly on Him now wait.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis One….(v.27-31)                      Enter Man

Verses 27-31….

   The account of God creating man in this passage is spoken of as general….the next chapter gives a more specific account. Here, the human race is spoken of as male and female, created in God’s image. Let’s think of ways in which mankind is made as God is…..

                        Man                                                          God

Man has the capacity to reason           God says, “Come, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18)

Man needs to be loved                          God IS love                                          (1 John 4:19)

Man has choices                                   God chose us in Christ                       (Ephesians 1:4)

Man seeks fellowship                            God fellowships with His own

Until man fellowships with God, he is unfulfilled.

Man has emotions the same as God….

Pleasure           (Psalm 16:11)                                       (Psalm 147:11)

Anger               (Ephesians 4:31)                                   (Psalm 6:1)      

Patience           (1 Timothy 6:11)                                   (Romans 15:5)

Joy                   (Philippians 2:18)                                  (Galatians 5:22)

Compassion      (Hebrews 10:34)                                   (Mark 1:41)

Man was made in God’s image complete, To commune with Him in fellowship sweet,

Man has the capacity to love and want friends, God desires this too, world without end!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Two….(v.1-3)             Why the Sabbath Day?

Verses 1-3….

   We may wonder why God made a thing about the seventh day…He had completed creation in six days and on the seventh day He rested. What was so special about the seventh day?

God has mad time to revolve in blocks of sevens, and creation conforms to this. Take notice of the periods of gestation and eggs hatching of all living things are so many weeks of seven days. People have tried to make a ten day working week, but it doesn’t work. There is better work production in six days with one day off. This is the way that God has ordained it to be…six days work, one day rest for both man and beasty as clearly stated in Deuteronomy 5:12-15.

What are people to do on this seventh day? It is to be a time of rest and reflection….in Israel’s time it was clearly demonstrated by no manna falling on the seventh day….they were to sit down and think about the great things that God had done in bringing them out of Egypt, (and was still doing in giving them the promised land) Exodus 16:22-30.

   Isaiah tells us it was a time specially set aside for the Lord, to think of His things, to delight in Him, to sing His praises and not do our own thing or have our own pleasures (Isaiah 58:13-14). In the New Testament , this time was transferred to the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the day when people are to gather together to remember Him and what He has done for them (Acts 20:7).

To remember our Lord is surely no chore, As Israel remembered their deliverance before;

To keep one day for the Lord we love, To rest from our labours for the One from above.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Two….(v.4-20)                Man’s First job.

Verses 4-20….

   The writer of Genesis now gives a resume of creation and adds a few more interesting facts. Notice that in verse 5 it says that every bit of vegetation was made and THEN planted….our God is a Master Gardener!

Rain was unknown then….mists kept the ground damp. We are told in verse 7 that man was made from something, the dust of the earth, in contrast to all other creation which came into being as God spoke from nothing. God made this man and then breathed into his nostrils, not just oxygen, but the capacity for eternal life. Every baby that is born will live for ever somewhere!

God planted a special garden with every sort of shade and fruit tree for this man to enjoy. Among these were two trees that God specifically told him he was not to touch….the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.

Man was given the job of looking after this garden as well as naming all of the animals and birds. What a variety there were! The land was described and the four great rivers that came from Eden to water that part of the world reminds us of God’s provision for man’s spiritual needs as well as his physical needs. He is the Water of Life, and in the book of Revelation we see the great River of Life that flows from God’s throne with the tree of life growing there for the healing of the nations, which must be the spiritual heealing since all disease and sickness has already been done away with.

God planted His garden and made it complete, With rivers and mist to dampen the heat,

Everything perfect, with sin never known, God’s greatness and power to all clearly shown.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Two….(v.21)              The First Marriage.

Verse 21….

   Have you ever wondered at the strong attraction between the sexes? It is far more than mere sexual attraction, it is the need to be one with another person, to have someone to love and be loved by. This is God-given….

God looked at Adam and  said, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper fitted for his needs”. Just as Adam was formed from the dust of the ground, so God now formed the woman from his side.  God put him into a heavy sleep and gave the first operation performed on earth. God took one of Adam’s ribs out of his side and fashioned a woman for him from himself. Imagine Adam’s thoughts as he first saw Eve…”Mine! Isn’t she lovely!”

God gave His blessing on this union and said that from then on a man should leave his parents and become a separate unit, one flesh, and have no shame in delighting with each others’ bodies. They are to remain together for life with nothing and no-one coming between them (Matthew 19:4-6) and the marriage unit is to be a picture on earth of the unity between Christ and His Church in heaven (Ephesians 5:22-33)

The husband is to love his wife with all his heart and to consider her needs….the need to be loved, listened to and treated with respect and consideration….after all she isn’t as stron physically as he is! The wife is to respect and consider her husband’s needs, to be thoughtful and look up to him taking notice of what he ways and sticking to what he wants. A wife is not told to love her husband….she will do this automatically if he loves and treats her as he should.

Love is more than feeling good, It’s being kind just as we should,

To think of others and all THEIR needs, To put them first in words and deeds.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.1, 8)                      Eve’s Fault?

Verses 1 and 8….

   Everything in God’s garden was perfect! The man had his wife for company….they delighted in each other, in the beauty all around them, the birds and animals, and best of all the perfect communion they had with God as He came to walk and talk with them in the garden each day.

They both knew God in a way that no other human ever has because at this stage they had never known sin, they were perfect in every way. It was an idyllic time in history.

God had only given them two stipulations….they were not to eat of the fruit of the two trees in the centre of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. It never entered their heads to disobey, why should they? They had everything they needed!

But there was another being watching jealously in the shadows. He hated God and everything that He stood for, and was determined to wreck this beautiful situation. He is still involved in this work of undermining God’s authority and work at every turn. He knows our every weak point and strikes where and when we are most vulnerable. We are to be continually on our guard and resist his every ploy, and he will leave us alone for the time being (“flee from us” as Peter says..(1 Peter 5:8-9).

Satan’s attack was no surprise to God….God had always known this would happen as He knew the evilness of Satan’s heart and his hatred of everything good. Knowing what it would cost Him personally, God was still prepared to go ahead with His plan of making man and then having to redeem him from sin’s penalty to achieve the end result of having someone to fellowship with Him for eternity. How humbling is that!

The world complete, the garden made, Man enjoyed the plants and shade,

But Satan lurked and tried to foil, God’s plan for man with sin to spoil.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.1-6)           Satan versus Man…who Won?

Verses 1-6….

   The serpent is synonymous with Satan. At this stage the serpent was a bright, beautiful, shimmering creature, one that fascinated and apparently had legs, or got along upright in some way.

This particular day, it came up to Adam and Eve and actually spoke to Eve. He came straight to Eve’s weakest point….casting doubts about God by saying “Has God said?”

Eve had the right answer, “Yes, God has said…..” but then Satan sent in his barb, he appealed to her pride. “You will know as much as God if you eat this fruit!”

Eve could still have walked away from the tempter, but she listened and looked a second time and was lost. Kames tells us what to do in similar circumstances….”Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. The believer has God on his side. He has to do what he can…resist and stand firm on God’s Word….and God will do the rest. NEVER take a second look or you will be lost for sure.

Eve acted independently from God and from Adam, her protector who had received this instruction from God. She fell for satan’s suggestion and took the fruit and ate it and gave it to Adam who was near her. Adam’s weakest point was Eve. He didn’t stand up to her, taking notice of her before God, and gave in.

There are many points we could discuss here as to the reasons why he did this but they would be all surmise. The fact is, the deed was done. Man had disobeyed God. The results of this are seen all around us today. God’s paradise was destroyed as sin now reigned with its accompanying death sentence, just as God had said would happen.

Resist the devil and he will flee, Stand firm for God and you will see,

He’ll give strength to win the fight, As you stand up for what is right!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.7-10)         Be Sure your Sin will Find you Out!

Verses 7-10….

   Adam and Eve had both disobeyed God’s instructions and eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and immediately they knew they had sinned. Their conscience came surging to life and the seeds of death in their body began to grow. From that moment they began to age.

Before this, they hadn’t known or experienced evil or sin, but now they were caught in its web….there was no going back or undoing it.. God had seen it all, in fact He knew it was going to happen, and that these creatures He had made with a free will had chosen to rebel against Him!

They knew now that they were naked and made coverings for their nakedness out of fig leaves, not realising that these too were now decaying. How futile is man’s efforts to cover his sin!

So too, it is today….man is incapable of covering his sin from God’s sight. The seeds of Adam’s sin are passed on from generation to generation and everyone is born with that ”I want to” do their own thing and have their own way which God calls sin! (Romans 5:12)

By covering their nakedness, they gave themselves away before God and hid among the trees not wanting to face Him for the first time since their creation. No longer could they face God in their sin.

Eve disobeyed and ate the fruit, which God had told her didn’t suit,

Now she and Adam both could know, What shame was like as time did show.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.11-13)           Sin Brings Fear

Verses 11-14….

   Sin brought fear, being afraid, of God. It also brought self centredness….”I was afraid”; “I heard”; “I” hid from You. God made man to be God centred, and now sin had blotted God out of man’s heart. God says, “Your sins have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) There is only one prayer that God will hear from a person in this condition and that is, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”

God confronted man about his disobedience…He didn’t sweep it under that as it were, or make excuses for his weakness….man had a chance to repent there and then, but what did he do? He made excuse after excuse and admitted nothing.

How often we do the same thing! “Not my fault, I didn’t do it!” or else we lay the blame on someone (or something) else. Adam immediately said, “It wasn’t my fault, it was the woman that YOU gave me who gave me the fruit!” How weak can a man be! But Eve was no better. She said, “Wasn’t MY fault, it was the serpent that made me do it!” Satan made no excuses….he had achieved his purpose, but the vehicle of his voice (the serpent) was immediately cursed. It was no longer a creature of beauty, but was now a creeping, slithering thing that was hated by all other creatures.

Satan had already fallen in God’s sight, with his place already waiting for him, so he had no reason to make any excuse. He had ruined God’s highest creation and he was satisfied with that.

Now man had sinned, he was afraid, And hid in trees that God had made,

Covered up in leaves that fade, And then faced God in sin unpaid.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.15-19)       Sin Brings Judgment

Verses 15-19….

   Man was created a glorious creature, shining and surrounded with God’s glory and able to talk to God face to face. Now that he had sinned, that glory faded and he saw his nakedness as something to be ashamed of.

The serpent was the first to receive sentence….there would be perpetual enmity between snakes and humans just as there is perpetual enmity between the children of God and the children of Satan.

The woman’s sentence was in child bearing and the woes of motherhood and the fact that she would be subject to her husband’s leadership. The man’s sentence was the cursing of the ground that he would now be dependant on for life….it would be hard work to get a living from the soil.(Romans 5:18)

He had come from dust, he would live from the soil and his body would eventually return to the soil and become the dust once more. In the light of all this, we can only cry with the Pslamist, “Oh Lord, What is man that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4)

Satan first was judged for sin; The serpent now made long and thin;

The woman subject to her man, Forever now from Eden banned.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Three….(v.20-24)       Without Shedding Blood, there is no Remission of Sin.

Verses 20-24….

   God had said to Adam, “The day you eat the fruit of this tree, you will die”. Satan said to Eve, “You won’t die!” What happened?

They had eaten the fruit in disobedience to God and they were still alive, BUT they had died to free access to God, the seed of death in their body began to grow and they began to age from that moment. Not only did their disobedience affect them, but it affected the whole of creation.(Romans 8:21-22).

The first death occurred when God took the skins of animals to cover their nakedness. Clothes to cover our nakedness is a God-given thing and we do well in this day and age of immodesty to dress modestly to God’s glory! We are not to overdress, and not to under dress….both draw attention to ourselves which is not glorifying to God. (1 Peter 3:3_4)

But this was not the end of Adam’s punishment….now he was expelled from God’s beautiful garden where the tree of life was growing and had to make his own garden from scratch, and so human life as we know it had begun. The toil that went into producing food was set in motion. Angels now guarded the tree of life and in time it was removed and the place where God’s garden had been, was no more seen and became a desert.

Sin destroys, brings death to all, To all creation through man’s fall,

God says sin’s wages all are sure, Death comes to all, for none are pure.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Four….(v.1-7)            Which Sacrifice?

Verses 1-7….

   Cain and Abel, the two eldest sons of Adam and Eve, were very different in character. Both had the same background and upbringing, and both would have heard the same stories that Adam and Eve told of the garden and their fall from grace….

Cain loved growing plants and had a wonderful garden. Abel loved animals and tended his animals lovingly. We can only assume that Adam and Eve continued to have further children while these two boys were growing up.

Both boys had the desire to bring God an offering, and both would have known that only a sacrifice where blood was shed was acceptable to God. But Cain stubbornly refused to accept this, and instead of buying an animal from his brother, he brought of his fruits that he had produced. They may have been beautiful, but he thought he knew better than God what to bring.

When God accepted Abel’s offering of a lamb but refused to accept Cain’s vegetables, he (Cain) became very angry and resentful. On the surface, we might wonder why God didn’t accept Cain’s offering, but he knew the boys’ hearts. Abel was prepared to please God while Cain only pleased himself and thought he knew best.

They would have been taught by Adam that sin needs a blood sacrifice….Abel accepted this and parted with his lamb. Cain rejected this and thought his way was good enough. God gently pointed Cain in the right direction, but he still refused it. His attitude didn’t make him feel any better….standing on one’s rights never does. It does not bring happiness or joy before God.

Cain and Abel both had the same start, One loved God, and one hardened his heart,

Cain was rebuked but refused to heed, While Abel was blessed in his giving indeed.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Four….(v.8-26)           Running Cures Nothing

Verses 8-26….

   Resentment built up in Cain’s soul as he continued to do his own thing and refused to do what he knew he should. We are told that bitterness has a root that grows and continually troubles the person that harbours it….

In Cain’s case, his refusal to listen to God caused his resentment against Abel to grow to such an extent that he murdered his own brother to get rid of the reminder of his own disobedience. Disobedience is never static,,, it always leads to a downward path…resentment, hatred, and then murder. We may not commit murder physically, but we tear down those we dislike with slander or innuendos.

Cain continued in his rebellion by refusing to admit his dastardly deed to God and lied to His face. As a result, he received a stronger sentence from God and went on the run for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, that didn’t solve the problem  for him any more than it does for us. When caught out, we must deal with the problem in true repentance to clear it up….running away achieves nothing, as we take our self with us!

Cain’s descendants were talented in many ways, but it doesn’t seem that they followed the Lord or had any dealings with Him. It was from Seth, the third son of Adam, that the godly line of people came.   

Bitterness leads to stunting the soul, Leaving us feeling far from whole,

This then leads to envy and hate, Which brings us death as ultimate fate.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Five….(v.1-32)                   Genealogy

Verses 1-32….

   We might wonder why the inclusion of this genealogy, but let’s look at it and tabulate the ages and names here….it will show many interesting facts…..

     Year            Born               Name            Age lived

            0                      Adam               930

130                   Seth                 912

235                   Enos                905

325                   Cainan              910

460                   Jared                962

622                   Enoch               365       Enoch didn’t die, God took him   (verse 24)

687                   Methuselah       969       his name means “When he dies it will come”

874                   Lamech                        777

            930                   Adam died

1042                 Seth died

1056                 Noah                950

1556                 Shem               600

            1651                 Lamech died (Noah’s father)

            1656                 The flood came

     Lamech (Noah’s father) died in the year 1651, so he would have seen the building of the ark. Methuselah (Noah’s grandfather) died the year the flood came….in fact his name meant “at his death the sending forth of the waters”. Enoch, his father was such a godly man, walking with God continually,  that he was able to prophetically give Methuselah this name. He also prophesied of a coming judgment day when the Lord, along with His saints,  would judge all ungodly people (Jude 1:14-15). Enoch pleased God so much that he bypassed a death date, the first of only two men to do this with Elijah being the other one. (2 Kings 2:1, 11)

The men of old lived many a year, Some walked with God in fellowship near,

Enoch was one who walked this way, Until God took him clear away.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Six….(v.1-12)             Who Were These People?

Verses 1-12….

   These early verses give rise to all sorts of speculations….did angels REALLY come down to earth and live with humans? In conjunction with this thought, we must read Mark 12:25 where our Lord specifically says that angels do NOT marry…..

Who then were these “sons of God”? Back in chapter five we see the godly line of Seth and follow it down. In chapter four we read of the ungodly line of Cain who totally left God out of his life. It was Seth’s descendants who began to call on the name of the Lord (chapter 4:25-26), and this reached a peak of communion with God that a human can reach when God took Enoch bodily, and not by death (Hebrews 11:5).

   Now we see what happens when godly people marry ungodly spouses….they nearly always get dragged down by them. In this time we are reading about, this is what happened and the wickedness of man became very great, and all they could think about was wicked thoughts. Paul very definitely says that believers are NOT to marry unbelievers because it can’t work….there is too much conflict in spiritual things (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).

Things on earth became so bad that God now cut back a person’s life span to the average of 120 years, and people’s lives got still shorter from Noah’s time. Noah was God’s man for a specific purpose, and he was the only one who looked to God and lived a good life….everyone else was corrupt and violent. It wasn’t safe to walk out on the road! What a wonderful testimony Noah had…just and upright! (verse 9)

As time passed by this world so fair,  Men left their God, in wickedness shared,

God’s Spirit with them no more strived, God gave them up as judgment arrived.  

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Six….(v.13-22)                       Noah a Dope?

Verses 13-22….

   God’s patience with mankind had come to an end, and man needed to be taught a harsh lesson….”I’m going to make an end of this evil, and man will be destroyed from the earth”…..

God revealed to Noah 1his plan and gave him a massive job to do…build this large ark (boat) capable of saving all species of animals  and all people who would be willing to join it. What an object of derision Noah must have been! Here he was, miles from the ocean, and no one knew what rain was as it had never fallen prior to this time. The boat was 450 feet long by 75 feet high and had three decks….each storey would have been over ten feet high, high enough to accommodate elephants and giraffes!

God had not only told Noah what to do, but what was going to happen, so Noah would no doubt have told all who came to see what he was doing, why he was doing it. Peter says he was a “preacher of righteousness”  (2 Peter 2:5). It is also interesting to note that Noah was the eighth generation down from Adam (eight being God’s number). The warning in this is that God ALWAYS judges sin, no matter how long it takes to come, it WILL come.

Man had fallen deep in sin, His every thought was wrong within;

God’s patience went and judgment came, the earth was cleansed to start again.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Seven….(v.1-24)        Noah’s Obedience Rewarded

Verses 1-24….

   Noah had prepared the ark and provisioned it with enough food for every creature on board just as God had told him to. What a sight it must have been to see all the animals loaded on board!

Seven pairs of clean (eatable) animals, and all birds, with one pair of all other animals and all the creepy crawlies too! Finally Noah and his family (eight people) went in and God shut the door of the ark. There wouldn’t have been any handle on the outside. Then it began to rain….imagine the panic of the people on the outside as they saw the waters begin to rise. They would remember then all the times that Noah had warned them this would happen! The tide too kept on rising and people could now see that Noah’s prediction was right after all, but it was too late!

The water kept rising until the highest mountain was covered by fifteen cubits (seven metres). All moving life died and the earth was cleansed of all the filth and evil that man had brought on it. The water covered the earth for just over five months before it began to recede.

Man’s sin brought judgment on the earth, Such as was not seen since its birth,

The earth was cleansed all through and through, So then it could start fresh and new.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eight….(v.1-22)          Wait and Still Wait.

Verses 1-22….

   Noah and all the life with him were in the ark for just over twelve months (verse 14). For just over five months the waters kept rising, then the rain stopped and the tide started to drop. Seven months after Noah went into it, he felt the ark bump into something hard and it stuck fast.

Noah kept looking out and three months later he could see the tops of the mountains again. What a day that would have been! But it was not God’s time to leave the ark yet. Noah had learned through the years to WAIT until God told him to move.

But that didn’t stop him testing what was going on and he sent a raven out which didn’t come back. So he sent a dove and it returned, and a week later he sent it out again. This time it came back with a green leaf in its beak. But it still wasn’t God’s time….the plants and grass had to grow again to give the animals enough food to survive.

At last the day came…..what a day of rejoicing that was! Noah was full of thankfulness and praise to God as he took some of the “clean” animals and birds to make a sacrifice to Him (verses 20-21a) which God accepted. This gave God much pleasure and He said that He would never again destroy the earth in such a way.

Noah learned as he walked life’s way, To obey his God from day to day,

We too must walk, for God WILL lead, As we look to Him and His Word read.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eleven….(v. 1-9)        Man Proposes

Verses 1-9….

   The people, all closely related, were staying around the area where the ark had touched down. But as they started to move around, they came to this plain where they settled. Then they had a great idea…..

“Let’s  build a tower that will reach to heaven and make a great name for ourselves”, they said, and then set to work. It wasn’t that they were merely building a tower that God did not like, it was their attitude of pride towards God…they were exhibiting the same attitude of pride that Satan showed when he said to himself, “I will be like God, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14)

The people all had a common purpose, a common ambition, and a common language, and so they began. We can imagine the next part of the story…..the foreman went  out to to give his orders to the people, but the they looked at him in amazement….they did not understand a single word that he was saying! God had stepped in and confounded their language, their plans and their project….it all came to a sudden halt.

Each family drifted away from the others who now seemed like foreigners, and they moved off to settle in other parts. It was all God’s plan to scatter the people and populate the rest of the world.

Japheth’s family went north and westward; Ham’s went towards the south while some of Shem’s stayed where they while others drifted off to the east. So the different nationalities of the world evolved according to God’s plan.

Man had planned and then proposed, But God took note and then disposed,

We should take care, and let Him guide, So we in Him can each abide.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eleven….(v.10-26)                  Enter Abraham

Verses 10-26….

   Verse ten is interesting…it states that Shem was 100 years old at the end of the flood and that two years later his first child was born

This would have given him time to get established with gardens (food) and somewhere to live. We then see the direct line from Shem to Abraham that was ten generations….

Year after flood           Year from Beginning   Name               Age      Yr  Died after flood

Flood ended                          1556                Shem               600                   500

2                                  1558                 Arphaxad          438                   440

37                                1693                 Salah                433                   470

67                                1723                 Eber                 464                   531

101                               1757                 Peleg               239                   340

131                               1787                 Reu                  239                   370

163                               1819                 Serug               230                   393

193                               1849                 Nahor               148                   341

222                               1878                 Terah               205                   427

292                               1948                 Abraham           175                   467

So we can see from this that Shem outlived all of these patriarchs except for his great-grandson Eber who died in the 531^st year after the flood…..he even outlived Abraham! Man’s life span was getting gradually less until David could write that a person could only expect to live seventy years or maybe eighty with great difficulty (Psalm 90:10)

All these who lived so long ago, Shem lived enough to see them grow,

From Babel’s time when scattered all, Till Abram went where God did call.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eleven….(v.27-32)                  Where Lot Fitted In.

Verses 27-32….

   We see that Terah had three sons (verse 26) Abram, Nahor and Haran, and they lived in the city of Ur which was on the river Euphrates near its mouth into the Persian Gulf. These three sons married….

Haran had  at least three children (Lot, Milcah and Ischar, verse 29) and then died comparatively young. Nahor took his niece Milcah as his wife and Abram married his half sister Sarai who was a beautiful girl.

Terah and some of his family left the city of Ur and travelled for 600 miles up the river Euphrates to the city of Haran. We aren’t sure whether Terah left in response to God’s first message to Abram, or whether that message came to Abram for the first time in Haran. But Terah felt he had gone far enough, and he settled there until he died in the year 427 after the flood.

In the year 367 after the flood, God spoke to Abram again (Abram was 75 at this time, chapter 12:4) about leaving his relatives and Abram moved on, taking his wife and nephew Lot with him. We can see from chapter 12:5 that they all must have been in Haran a few years as it tells us that Abram had got together a team of servants and animals and took them with him. Maybe he thought Lot could be a help to him on the journey to where God was directing him. It seems that Lot was still unmarried at this time, as there is no mention of a wife in this account.

Many people say that Abram stayed in Haran until his father died, but that is not correct when the times and dates given here are checked out.

Abram obeyed what God had said, Leaving home, by God was led,

Travelled far to the Promised Land, Trusting God’s protecting hand.  

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twelve….(v.1-8)                    Abraham’s Obedience

Verses 1-8….

   The Scripture clearly says that Terah took Abram (and the others) with him from Ur to Haran. Then we read that God spoke to Abram and told him to leave his father and carry on to another land that God would take him to….  

There is no suggestion that Abram dithered around….verse 4 says that Abram did as God told him and left his father at Haran (where he eventually died). It is not said of Abram that he was a just or perfect man as it says of Noah, but it IS said that he was a man of faith and action (verse 4; Hebrews 11:8-9).

   James refers to him as “the Friend of God” (James 2:23). Abram took Lot and Sarai his wife, plus his servants, goods and animals, and set off travelling south for six hundred miles. The land there was inhabited by the descendants of Ham. The first place he stopped at, he built an altar to the Lord, and God appeared to him, giving him for the second time the promise of this land for his descendants. He then carried on to Bethel where he built his second altar to the Lord.

Abram obeyed all God’s Word, He did exactly what he had heard;

Taking Lot and Sarai, off he went, To do as he was plainly meant.

We should like Abram, God obey, And follow Him from day to day.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twelve….(v.9-20)                   Abram in Trouble.

Verses 10-26….

   Things had gone smoothly for Abram’s convoy as they moved wouth, and he had seen God’s hand on his trip and given Him thanks. But now trouble arose, and so it often is with us as we travel life’s road……

We will have a period of time when everything is going well and we feel that God has blessed us, and then we will run into one of the storms of life. For Abram, it was a famine….what to do? He didn’t ask the Lord about it, but just did what seemed sensible at the time….he carried on into Egypt (which is a picture of the world) and we don’t read that he  made an altar there.

If we leave off reading the Word when we hit trouble, it won’t be long before we slip back into the world’s ways and we leave off going to church, don’t pray and soon people won’t know we are any different to them.

Abram was not only in Egypt, but he told Sarai to tell lies about who she was (his wife)….Abram was trusting in his own wisdom rather than in God. But Pharaoh found him out and sent him off….what a disgrace when the world rebukes a Christian for their manner of life!

Abram’s trip went smooth and good, He made an altar as he should,

But then one day when trouble came, He left God’s land much to his shame.

                          ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirteen….(v.1-18)     Abram Returns.

Verses 1-18….

   Abram now retraced his steps and went back to the place where he had last built an altar. So we too, when we backslide, must return to the Lord and to a place of worship….

But Abram still had a hanger-on that was not of God’s choosing….his nephew Lot. Abram had been told to leave his family behind, but he took Lot with him. Now the time had come when Lot was forced to leave him. Sometimes we hang onto things that are harm;ess in themselves, but we know they are not of the Lord for us.

Sometimes they are removed forcibly from us, but how muxch better to give them up voluntarily for God! It might be an ear-ring for a man, or some bad habit not becoming to a believer (smoking, the odd drink or bad language). These things which are OK for the world, will always hold back a believer from growing in the Lord.

When Abram was back at the altar, then Lot left him and God once more gave Abram the great promise he had started off with and expanded it even further. We cannot grow in the Lord until we leave these things behind us.

Abram now retraced his way, Looking to God for ev’ry day,

Back to the altar he’d  had at Bethel, Where God was able His promise to tell.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fourteen….(v.1-16)              Lot Saved.

Verses 1-16….

   We have just seen how Lot separated from Abram and chose the easy land of the plains, BUT there were dangers there, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah……

This reminds us that the easy ways of life are not always the best ways. It is easy to sleep in, in the mornings rather than to get up and spend time in God’s Word; it is easy to work church life around what we want to do rather than make church central and work other things around it!

Lot thought he could handle the temptations of these places, but we see in this chapter  that now he was living right IN Sodom. So the world sucks the unwary believer right into its midst until they are totally captivated and captured by the evil one, just as Lot was taken captive by the pagan kings. It took righteous Abram with his trained servants to rescue him and bring him back restoring his goods to him.

Notice that Abram was on the alert, with his servants trained and ready to fight. This is how we should be as believers (2 Timothy 2:3-6). We should be on the alert to not get tangled up in the world’s pleasures, but to strive to please our Master at all times. We are told in Ephesians  6:10-18 how to be armed and ready for this fight, and this doesn’t happen by just drifting along!

Lot’s way was easy on the plain, But soon he moved in ways so vain,

All his goods were taken away, Till Abram got them back one day.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fourteen….(v.17-20)           Melchisedek

Verses 17-20….

   We have here the only historical mention of this man Melchisedek He is called the King of Salem (Peace) and was also a priest of the Most high God…

This shows us that there were others besides Abram who worshipped the one true God at this time. In Psalm 110 we read that David referred prophetically to the One Who would one day come to earth saying, “The Lord said unto my Lord” (verse 1) and we see the capital letters of the title showing the Persons of the Godhead filling different roles. In verse 4 he writes, “The Lord has sworn and said and will never change, ‘You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek’ “.

In the book of Hebrews 6:20-7:1-27 the writer enlarges on this and says more than once that Jesus Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchisedek, not Aaraon. So we see that the order of Melchisdek was higher than that of Aaron’s and that Melchisdek waas not only called the King of Peace, but also the King of Righteousness. Who else but our Lord Jesus fills this role?

This man met Abram and blessed him, and Abram gave him tithes of all his spoil. How much more has our Prince of Peace met us and blessed us! What can we do but take the cup of salvation that He offers us and worship Him!

God’s plan waAbram fought and won the war, Brought Lot back and still far more,

The Priest of God met him that day, And blessed him fully in the way.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fourteen….(v.21-24)         Love of Money.

Verses 21-24….

   How much do we love our money? We are told that the LOVE of money is the root of all eveil and causes people to err from their faith (1 Timothy 6:10). Notice it is not the money that is evil, it is the love of it. It all depends what place it has in our lives….the believer is to love the Lord with ALL his heart, soul and mind and keep his thoughts of money to a minimum…

Here we see Abram doing just that. When the king of Sodom offered him all the spoil, he refused to take it. He had already made a pact with God that he would not accept even a shoe lace from this wicked king in case he said later that he had contributed to Abram’s riches.

Abram only wanted what God provided for himself, but he saw to it that those who helped him were well paid and he accepted the cost of the army’s food. What a lesson this is to us! Not only that, but Abram gave a thank offering to God through Melchisedek. Abram kept his money in the right place and his faith remained in God, not in his money. The more money we have, the less we have to look to the Lord to provide for us!

Is our heart towards the Lord,  With our thoughts towards His Word?

Does love of money come between, And cause our souls to be quite lean?

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fifteen….(v.1-21)       God’s Time….Not Yet!

Verses 1-21….

   Abram’s life seemed to be one series of tests after another….some he passed and others he failed. Whenever he passed a test, God spoke to him again and re-iterated His promise. Sometimes many years passed before he heard God’s voice, but still Abram remained faithful to God and kept his faith in Him…..

By this time Abram was around 84 years of age with Sarah ten years younger and he was resigned to the fact that he was still childless and planned to give his faithful steward his inheritance. This, in spite of all the promises that God had already given him about his descendants!

Now God was telling once again that he WILL have children of his own. Abram was no different to the rest of us. “How can this be so? How can I know for sure?” he asked.

God told him to prepare a sacrifice, and that evening Abram fell into a deep sleep and felt a sense of great horror come upon him. God then spoke to him again and told him plainly what the future held for his descendants. Abram then saw a flame and a fiery light pass through the sacrifice pieces, and knew it had been accepted by God. We also see that God’s patience with nations runs out in the end, and that one day in the future, the nations would be conquered and their land given to Abram’s descendants.  

Abram heard God’s voice once more, Just as he had the times before,

“A son you’ll have, descendants too, This is the thing that I will do!”

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Sixteen….(v.1-4)                        Wait!.

Verses 1-4….

   What a mix up of events in this chapter! All because Abram went into Egypt! If we backslide into the world, and then come back to the Lord, let us beware that we bring nothing back with us. Abram and Sarai brought back an Egyptian maid with them…harmless thing? Let’s see…..

Abram and Sarai were both desperate for a son. They couldn’t see how God’s promises were going to come true unless there was a son, and Sarai was well past child bearing time even though she was fit and well. It seems that a woman’s childbearing years then were much the same as now in spite of their longer lives.

Now we see the same pattern of things as with Adam and Eve…they didn’t really believe what God said and Sarai had a bright idea….”Take my maid and give her a son…perhaps this is what God meant!”

We never need to help God out with our good ideas…they don’t work!  What a lot of trouble this thought of Sarai’s caused and is still causing today with the Arab nations coming from this son! Abram got his son (not of God’s choosing); Hagar despised her mistress and Sarai treated her harshly. God could have prevented Hagar from having this son, but He sometimes allows these consequences of our foolish actions and disobedience to bring disastrous results. God knew this was all going to happen, and in spite of it, His purposes would still come to pass.

Abram listened to Sarai his wife, With results that have caused much sorrow and strife,

From Abram’s time to the present day, All because it wasn’t God’s way!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Sixteen….(v.5-16)        Consequences.

Verses 5-16….

   Sarai could now see some of the results of her impatience and unbelief, but it was too late. Hagar was refusing to obey her mistress and thought she should have privileges, being the mother of Abram’s son….

   Sarai treated her harshly and Hagar ran off. Hagar, too, had lessons to learn. God’s angel appeared to her and told her to go back to her mistress…God would bless this unborn son of hers and would make him the father of many nations because he was Abram’s son. His name was to be Ishmael.

BUT he was not God’s chosen child, he was not the promised son but the son of the flesh as it were, and he did not come under God’s covenant. This show us that although all mankind are God’s sons by creation, yet are they not all God’s sons in the sense of inheriting salvation. All humans are born in bondage to Satan, born under sin, and must be re-born in Christ to be freed of that bondage (John 3:16). This is the promise we have of God today (Galatians 4 :22-26, 28-31)

Hagar listened to the angel and returned to Sarai and the son was born. Time passed by (another thirteen years) and Abram thought that this was the son that God had promised.

Consequences of impatience can last, And things haunt us from the past,

God’s time is right, perfect for all, But we must wait for His time and call.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Seventeen….(v.1-8, 15)     God Speaks Again.

Verses 1-8, 15….

   Things seem to have settled down again…Abram had his son Ishmael, and Sarai had to make do with this and still have Hagar as her maid. This seemed to be the way it was meant to be….

We often seem to have plateaus in our life where there are periods of quiet and peace, and then suddenly, boom! Something happens to shake us up! So it was with Abram and Sarai….God was now ready to do something else in their lives in His timing.

Once more God spoke directly to Abram. He told him who He was ….”God Almighty”, and what He expected Abram to do…. “walk before Me and be perfect (sincere with no pretence)”. We too, have to realise the might, majesty and power of God and relate to Him in sincere repentance and honesty before He can bless us and lead us on.

Again, God gave Abram the same promises, but this time He changed his name to Abraham (meaning “Father of many nations”) and Sarai’s name to Sarah (meaning “Princess”). We too, are not only given a new name (Christian, Christ’s one), but made a whole new creature to walk a new way of life with God (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Abram received from God that day, A promise and new name for alway,

“I am God, the Almighty One, Walk with Me and evil shun”.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Seventeen….(v.9-14, 23-27)        God’s Sign of the Covenant

Verses 9-14, 23-27….

   The rite of circumcision now comes into the picture. Thus waas something that God required of Abraham and all his descendants to show that they were part of His covenanted people. But it had a far deeper significance than a mere cutting away of flesh, and this is what we have to take notice of today…..

When God saw the circumcision of a male in Israel, He saw obedience to His Word, and also that they were followers of Him. God does not require physical circumcision in believers today, but He DOES require circumcision of the heart and mind….the cutting away of all worldly unnecessary things in our lives that take our time and thoughts away from God, so that we may love and follow Him as we should (Deuteronomy 10:16; Romans 2:28-29).

God required that Abraham do this not only as an act of obedience, but also that he follow Him with all his heart. Anyone who remained uncircumcised was cut off from God’s covenant just as today an unbeliever has no part in God’s family. He must receive the circumcision that is made without hands which takes place at the time of being saved (Philippians 3:3). A believer has to continue to circumcise his mind and thoughts to keep following the Lord by cutting away all that hinders.

God’s covenant with Abraham of old, For him and his to always hold,

Now our minds must circumcised be, To follow our Lord and His glories see.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Seventeen….(v.15-27)            Isaac Promised.

Verses 15-27….

   Notice that there was no such thing as female circumcision such as is practised by many of the dark skinned races today. Instead, God once more gives Abraham the promise of a son to Sarah….

This was more than even Abraham’s faith could take and he laughed at the very idea.

“I’ve got my son”, he said to God, “What about Ishmael?”

“My covenant will not be with Ishmael”, God said, “He will become a great nation too, but My covenant will be with Isaac, son of Sarah”.

Ishmael was born of the flesh, being half Egyptian, and God’s promises were not for him. Paul shows us that he was born of the bondwoman (we are all born in the bondage of sin), and that God’s promises are only for those born of the free woman  (Galatians 4:22-31). These are those who are born again by the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ and made free by Him.

God did not rebuke Abraham for his laughter of disbelief, as what He was going to do was an absolute miracle, something totally contrary to nature. Abraham got up from his interview with God and immediately obeyed, and saw to it that he and all his males were circumcised that very day. (Galatians 3:6-29)

God told Abraham of Sarah’s son, But he thought it couldn’t be done,

“Ismael’s here, will he not do?”, But God promised Isaac, son number two.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eighteen….(v.1-15)    God’s Time had Come.

Verses 1-15….

   What a lovely picture of hospitality we have here! The LORD appeared to Abraham in the form of three travellers passing by, the Trinity in human form…..  

We wonder how Abraham heard God’s messages the other times! Notice how readily Abraham met them….he RAN to meet them and bowed down to the ground. How quickly would we bring God into our house? Would we want to put certain things out of sight first?

Abraham took them inside and then hurried to Sarah’s tennt…”Quick, do some baking for lunch”, he said. Then he RAN to the herd and got a fat calf and HASTED to kill and dress it. Meantime, the visitors were sitting in the shade of the tree waiting. How patient God is with us!

Sarah was curious about these visitors and she sat in the door of her tent nearby to hear what they had to say. She could hardly believe her ears! “Sarah will have a son”, they were saying. Sarah laughed to herself when she heard this (perhaps rather bitterly)….she was now 90! Too late now. Horrified she heard one of the men say, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for God?”

She tried to cover up. “No, I didn’t laugh”, she said.

“You did!” He said. We can never hide anything from God. But in spite of that, Sarah gathered herself up to believe that this would indeed happen. (Hebrews 11:11)

God promised Abraham once more, While Sarah listened at the door,

“Sarah’s son will come next year, I’ll do it surely, never fear”

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Eighteen….(v.16-33)       Pleading With God.

Verses 16-33….

   The meal was finished and the travellers prepared to move on. Abraham went with them for a short distance to bid them good speed, still not knowing that they weren’t just ordinary visitors…..

One of the Visitors lingered with Abraham while the other two went on, and now Abraham recognised that they were Heavenly Visitors, and that he was indeed speaking with God. God revealed now to Abraham what He was shortly going to do in this area…God said He was going to tell Abraham (His friend…James 2:23) what was about to happen, the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham’s thoughts immediately sprang to his nephew Lot who lived there, and he spoke up for him, making one of the great statements that we can hang onto today, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”. Indeed, we know that all God’s ways are right, even when we don’t understand them!

Abraham began to plead for Lot and his family….would God destroy Sodom if there were fifty righteous people there?  “No”, God replied. “What about forty five then?” and  Abraham went on down in numbers until he reached ten. Each time the answer was the same. “No”, God said, “I will not destroy the city if there are ten righteous there!”

What grace and mercy we see! Even though the city was filled with the wickedness of homosexuality which God utterly abhors, yet the presence of ten righteous people would save it. We underestimate the effect that godly people have in a community…..they are the salt that preserves, the light that shines in a dark place (Matthew 5:13-14). James tells us that the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous person avails for much (James 5:16b) and Abraham certainly proved that in this case.

God tells of doom that sin will bring, And warns so clear of sin’s last sting,

Abraham pled for Lot his kin, As Satan strove his life to win.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Nineteen….(v.1)         Lot‘s Slippery Slope.

Verse 1….

  Lot had started out with his tent pitched towards Sodom (chapter 13:12) and now he was sitting IN the gate of Sodom as one of the chief men. How often we start on a course that we think we can handle, only to find that it overcomes us in the end!

We don’t know whether Lot’s wife was from Sodom or not, but the family was living in Sodom and part of it by this time with at least two married daughters living there. Lot didn’t agree with the wickedness that went on in the city….his righteous soul was vexed every day by what he saw around him (2 Peter 2:6-9)… but he was too weak and too committed to move out.

No wonder the Psalmist could say that the man who could keep from socialising with the ungodly, standing with sinners in business or sitting in politics or councils was blessed indeed. (Psalm 1:1-6). It takes a strong committed Christian to be able to be in a position like this and to keep from being sucked into the system.

So now we see Lot sitting in the gate with the other officials, meeting these messengers from God who had come to warn him to flee from the coming destruction.

Lot had started with good intentions, Now found himself in evil past mention,

Through Abraham’s prayers, He was saved from these cares,

And taken away from dissension.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Nineteen….(v.2-25)        Depravity Reigns!

Verses 1:2-25….

 One wonders why these messengers were reluctant to stay with Lot. Was his wife not co-operative? Or too busy? Or did they want to see how genuine Lot was with his invitation?

    Verses 5-9 show how depraved the men of Sodom were….they didn’t want the girls, only the men. The general atmosphere of Sodom was so evil and so pervasive, that it was no wonder that Lot’s daughters did what they did later with their own father!

The visitors rescued Lot and protected the household by making the rioters blind, and then told Lot to go and warn the rest of his family to leave the city. Were these the “ten” that Abraham had pleaded to God for? Alas, Lot couldn’t even get ten of his family to believe what God said!  Lot’s testimony was nil in Sodom…what a challenge to us!

Lot’s weakness of character showed itself again and again….he “lingered” in verse 16, he was lazy (“I can’t get as far as the mountain”) and he liked his comforts (“Let me stay in this little city”). It is hard to imagine the sight, smell and sounds involved in the destruction of these two cities….the shaking of the earth, the flashes in the sky, the smell of sulphur and the noise that there would have been. Everything….people, animals, crops and buildings….all gone.

Lot was sitting in the gate, The day was gone and getting late

“Come home to stay” was what he said, As to his house the way he led.

“We cannot stay, we’ve come to warn, Judgment will come soon after dawn”.

Lot was saved by angel’s might, The cities gone by the next night.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Nineteen….(v.26-38)        Lot‘s Weakness.

Verses 26-38….

   Verse 26 seems to show most of Lot’s weakness…his wife. She was too strong for him, she didn’t really believe the messengers…..

     She didn’t want to leave her home, and she didn’t want to go to the mountains either….everything she said, Lot went along with. Her heart was still in Sodom. As they were taken forcibly by the hands of the two messengers, she hung back watching it all happen. As she dithered around, she was turned into a salty statue, destroyed by the same stuff that was destroying her things back home.

How many people are not prepared to leave their old ways to take the deliverance offered by God! They are ultimately destroyed by the very thing they hang onto…their sin.

We wonder what Abraham’s thoughts were the next morning as he surveyed the smoking plain! He probably never saw Lot again. But that is not the end of Lot’s weakness. His two single daughters were still tainted with Sodom’s wickedness and evil and thought nothing of the incest between them and their father….in fact, they planned it. The results of it plagued God’s people for ever in the Moabites and Ammonites (symbols of the flesh) that overran their borders for years. In the same way believers today are plagued by the fleshly desires as Paul describes in Romans 7:14-25….I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into the captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me  from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ  our Lord.

Lot‘s life was saved, his things were gone, Nothing left that he’d worked on.

No-one listened to what he said, For he was weak and easily led.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty….(v.1-18)      Abraham Slips Again.

Verses 1-18….

   Here we see Abraham leaving the hill country where he had been talking and fellowshipping with God and going south again….not as far as Egypt, but just dabbling in the world again…..

We would think that he would have learned his lesson from his last slip up in Egypt! But we see God’s patience and loving kindness in preserving him and Sarah in spite of their lies (remember that a partial truth is also a partial lie!) How often the Lord keeps His people when they start to stray and brings them back to Himself!

This time God intervened directly, in a dream to Abimelech who must have been contemplating taking Sarah (at age around 88!) and saying “Stop! She is his wife!” What a rebuke for Abraham when Abimelech reproved both of them for playing this game of deceit!

It is a real letting down of testimony when the world rebukes a believer for their behaviour (and this can happen) by having reason to say “Fancy him/her doing that!” Satan does his best to trip God’s people up and he tried to thwart God’s plan here of the promised son for Sarah but failed.

Abraham went to the  southern plain, Told Sarah to tell half truths again,

God intervened, Abimelech reproved, Before back north again they moved.  

                                   ***   ***   ***                  

Genesis Twenty-One….(v.1-21)           God’s Promise Fulfilled!.

Verses 1-21….

   God’s timing is always right! Never too soon and never too late! God’s promises are always kept, and Sarah had a son when she was 90!

We can imagine how protective Sarah was over this child….there was no way Ishmael was going to supersede him! Think of Ishmael’s feelings….he was now a lad of fifteen watching this crying child come into the family. It would have made him feel sick watching his father play with him and his mother dote on him! So he took refuge in mockery and making fun of it all.

“Out!” Sarah cried, “I’ll not have him teasing my little boy or sharing the inheritance with him!”

So it was with a heavy heart that Abraham heard God say, “Send them away….Isaac is the chosen son for your line. He will become a great nation. But because Ishmael is your son too, he also will become a great nation”.

Then we have the story of Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness nearly dying of thirst. Hagar nearly gave up in despair until an angel spoke directly to her from heaven and showed her where there was water. We don’t read that Hagar ever went back to Sarah’s employ, but they must have made their home in the wilderness with other nomads there. God’s promise came true, and both sons became great nations and they are still at odds with each other today.

God’s promise fulfilled when Isaac was born, Leaving Ishmael out and Hagar forlorn,

Sarah said “Out! He’s teasing my son, For Isaac MY child, is God’s chosen one!”

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-one….(v.22-34)         Abraham’s Testimony.

Verses 22-34….

   Abimelech, the Philistine king, now comes on the scene again. He recognised that God was with Abraham and prospering him and wanted to make a deal with him…..

This is a real example to us…do the people we work with know that God is with us? Is our work testimonial honouring to God? Abimelech wanted Abraham to deal with him honestly all the time. “Fair’s fair”, said Abraham, “What about those wells your servants won’t let us use?” So they made an agreement to live in the land in harmony and Abraham re-dug the wells and gave him seven lambs in payment.

We may not always agree with others’ philosophies or ideas, but we can agree to disagree and live in harmony with them. Arguments and debates achieve nothing but discord and that benefits no-one. The believer is to live peaceably with all around him (Romans 12:17-18).

Abraham planted a tree beside this well as a memorial….this grew and gave shade to those who went there. If we plant a tree of friendship, it will grow and benefit all.

To live in peace is a wonderful thing, To God our Father, it will glory bring,

To others around be a helpful friend, For you may win them to Christ in the end.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-two….(v.1-8)   Abraham’s Greatest Test.

Verses 1-8….

   Br now came to the greatest test in his whole life, and he had had many in his long life of walking with God. Some he had passed with flying colours, and others he had failed …..

So it is with us. Many tests come our way…let us make sure we meet each one of them with faith in God. By this time, Abraham had experienced God’s power many times and his faith was strong, so when God told him to take his well beloved son and offer him as a human sacrifice, he obeyed without hesitation (Hebrews 11:17-19).

It is no use putting off doing something that has to be done, it gets no easier! Abraham told no-one the full reason of his trip, only that God had told him to go and make a sacrifice to Him. We read in the Hebrews verses that Abraham figured that as God had given him this son miraculously in the first place with all His promises tied up in him, that somehow he would raise him from the dead.

Isaac was curious, and asked where the lamb was for the sacrifice….they had everything else! Abraham couldn’t bring himself to say at this stage, only that God would provide the lamb when the time came.

Abraham faced his greatest test, When asked to give his loved and best,

He just obeyed and went his way, Knowing that God would provide that day.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-two….(v.9-11)   God Provides.

Verses 9-11….

   Abraham and Isaac arrived at the appointed place on Mount Moriah….the very spot where centuries later, the Great Lamb of God (1John 1:29) would be crucified for the sins of the world!

Abraham had truly uttered prophetically when he said that God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice! Isaac was a true picture  of that passive lamb….he offered no resistance although he could have overpowered his father or run away. We would love to have a record of the conversation between Abraham and Isaac as Abraham told him what God had said to do! So too, our Lord Jesus was prepared to obey His Father to the full, even though He shrank from the thought….holiness having to bear the sins of the world !  (Hebrews 10:3-11)

Abraham was prepared to go the whole way….Isaac was bound and put on the very wood that he had carried…in the same way our Lord was beaten and flogged and nailed to the wood He had created…. Abraham took the knife and there the similarity ended. God intervened, Abraham had passed the test in full.

 Isaac obeyed what his father had said, As to the spot he was bound and led,

A true picture of the heavenly Lamb, But he was saved by God sending a ram.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-two….(v.12-14)    God’s Substitute.

Verses 12-14….

   Abraham’s test was not for God, because He knew before He told Abraham what was going to happen. It was for an example to people and the unseen hosts of what a man of faith would do in obedience to God’s command.

We never know ourselves until we are put the test, how we will react in certain situations until we are put in them. It was also for Isaac whose faith would have been strengthened as he saw how God provided….he would never have forgotten this incident his whole life through. It was a prophetic example of the obedient passive Lamb of God who was to come. It is for us today, to look back on this beautiful picture and example of faith and obedience.

God now intervened and provided a substitute which Abraham gladly took…the ram as a burnt offering. This again is a wonderful picture to us of our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, taking our place, paying for our sins in His own body on the cross (Galatians 3:13-14; 1 Peter 2:24). The penalty we each deserved.

Isaac was set free of the ropes that bound him to  certain death, another picture of how we have been set free from the ropes of sin that were taking us to a certain eternal death. What wonderful pictures we have in this story!

Isaac knew of God’s great love, When he heard the Voice above,

“Don’t kill the lad, but stay the knife, And take the ram to save his life!”

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-two….(v.15-24)         God’s Promises Again.

Verses 15-24….

   God didn’t leave Abraham floundering after this amazing deliverance of Isaac, but spoke to him again, giving him the same promises he had given him over the last forty years. This was the eighth time that God had given this promise to him…..

God knew right from the beginning that Abraham would be prepared to give his son, but unless he was put to the test in this way, no-one else would have known the depth of Abraham’s faith.  We would not know today the true calibre of the man.

Paul referred to him as “Faithful Abraham” and we Gentiles today are still being blessed through this man by our Lord Jesus Christ who descended from him in His humanity. Because we believe the Gospel  and have faith in Jesus Christ, so we too are the children of Abraham and are blessed in him. (Galatians 3:6-9)

So Abraham and Isaac went back home to Sarah and no doubt told her all that had happened. It was around this time that Abraham heard news of his brother Nahor and his family back in Mesopotamia.  

God spoke again in Abraham’s ears, Giving this promise that allayed his fears,

Saying that in him all nations would be blessed, All because he passed this test.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-three….(v.1-20)         Abraham’s Need Provided.

Verses 1-20….

   Sarah had come to the end of her days….she had been able to enjoy her son for thirty-seven years. We have in this chapter the only record of Abraham actually buying any land….he was still technically a foreigner in this land that God had given him ….

Abraham ranged over the hills and dales with his cattle as they needed to find food. No-one seemed to interfere with him, and now he needed a permanent piece of ground as a burying place. In the same way, the believer is to regard himself as a pilgrim  in this world. Our citizenship is in heaven (1 Peter 2:9-12) and although we are in this world, we are not of it  (John 17:14-16)

Believers are at all times to maintain a good testimony before the world and not to depend on this world’s goods to get by on. We are told to hold lightly what we have and to share it with others less fortunate…we are to depend on God and not on our money or possessions.

Abraham’s need was for a burying place and God provided it for him. But he paid for it, and it was his for ever.

Sarah was gone and Abraham bereft, Isaac was all that that he now had left,

His need now was a burying ground, And he was able to buy the one that he found.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-four….(v.1-14)          Guidance.

Verses 1-14….

   Here we have the wonderful story of the way that God guides His people when they sincerely follow His ways and wait for His timing. Eliezer must have been a very precise and efficient man as we see how he thinks ahead to every eventuality…..

He had a long trip to make and had no means of checking things when he came to a problem, so he had to know Abraham’s mind on things before he left. He had this huge responsibility of the future of Abraham’s line and wasn’t prepared to do it without God’s guidance.

Abraham was adamant that Isaac was not to go back to the land to choose his own wife….the servant was to go and find her and bring her back. In the same way, God’s people today are not to go to the world looking for a spouse, but to wait for God’s Holy Spirit to bring the right one at the right time.

Eliezer made it an earnest matter  of prayer and put a few requests concerning the job to the Lord…bring the right girl to the well, let her give me ( a stranger) a drink and then offer to water the camels as well ( huge job as they would have been very thirsty!). It is quite in order to make requests like this when one is seeking guidance, but we have to make sure we stick to our side of whatever bargain we make and not to compromise. This is where we have to WAIT for God to move.

The time had come for Isaac to wed, The servant was sent  and  by God was  led,

To Haran’s well where he found the right one, To be a good wife for his Master’s  son.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-four….(v.15-67)         Isaac Receives his Bride.

Verses 15-67….

   The servant arrived at the well, tired and thirsty with his team of thirsty camels (and servants probably) and waited there. This was where the girls of the town would come to draw their daily water supply. A girl came out while he was there, young and pretty, still at home with her parents. This was the first part of the test passed…..

Eliezer went forward and asked for a drink….she gave it to him and then offered to get the water for all the camels, a large task. Amazing! This was test two passed. Was this the right girl he wondered? But there was one more  test to go….

He then asked whose daughter she was, and when she told him her father’s name was Bethuel, the son of Abraham’s brother (test three passed), he could hardly believe his ears! He asked if there was room at her home for him to lodge, and she told him where to go and ran ahead to tell her parents of their unexpected visitor.

Eliezer was made welcome but would not eat his evening meal until he had told his story. This was the fourth test….how would they view his request? What would Rebekah say? Her father and brother both said the same thing….”it is from the Lord, how can we argue against it?” With hearing this answer, Eliezer bowed down himself and worshipped the Lord right there in front of them.

Next morning, Eliezer was anxious to get on his way again, but the family wanted to give Rebekah a proper wedding send off, but he felt he couldn’t wait a day longer. So they called Rebekah and asked if she was willing to forgo all the celebrations and leave that day. To her this was a great adventure, and she said “Yes” immediately.

“Praise the Lord!”, Eliezer would have thought…”This is definitely from the Lord!” He had no further doubts and Rebekah set off on the greatest adventure of her life with the blessing of her family. She had her maids and an older woman, her nurse, to go with her for company, and after all the weary miles and weeks, they finally approached Abraham’s camp. Isaac saw them coming and Rebekah put her veil over her head and got off her camel to meet him. What a lovely love story it turned out to be….”Isaac took her into his mother’s tent and she became his wife, and he loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death”.

The servant’s job was complete and done, Rebekah’s consent was certain and won,

The blessing was given and off they went, Eliezer’s task done for which he was sent.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-five….(v.1-18)    Abraham’s New Life.

Verses 1-18 …….

   Abraham was now 140 years old. Sarah was  dead, Isaac was married and he was still reasonably fit and well. God’s promise was on the way to being fulfilled and Abraham was now certain he would see a grandson from Isaac……

We often come to corners on the road of life when our lives take a completely different turn and what has gone has to be left behind. Abraham was not one to mourn Sarah for ever. Three years had passed so he took another wife, a much younger one and it sounds as though he had concubines as well!

But Abraham was wise in his doings and sorted out his affairs clearly and fairly. Isaac was his heir, and all his other sons were given gifts and sent off to make their own ways in life while Abraham was still alive and well. Isaac’s twin sons were boys of fifteen when Abraham died at age 175. Ishmael was there at his burial as he was laid to rest beside Sarah.

Abraham was wise in all his ways, And died at last being full of days,

Sorted out all his affairs, Leaving Isaac being his only heir.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-five….(v.19-28)    Next Generation.

Verses 19-28….

   Isaac struck the same problem that his father had had when he was first married….his wife remained childless for twenty years. He must have wondered where God’s promises were now and if his father’s line WAS going to carry on….

He did the best thing he could, he took the matter to the Lord.. Rebekah finally conceived and now she had double trouble as there were twins in her womb and they seemed to be fighting each other  making her very uncomfortable. She went to the Lord and asked what was wrong with her. The Lord told her that she was carrying twins and that the younger one would be the leader.

So the twins were born almost together with the younger one’s hand grasping the other twin’s heel. There was continual conflict between the two boys all the way, as they were totally different to each other. Esau grew to be an outdoor type, loving hunting and being outside and was his father’s favourite. Jacob was quieter and helpful to his mother, and she doted on him; he learned how to cook and placed great importance on the home. Both boys would have been taught by their father about God and the promises he had given to their grandfather Abraham ….Esau seems to have brushed it to one side while Jacob listened and determined to become the family mentor.

Esau grew an outdoor man, While Jacob stayed with pot and pan,

Isaac loved his eldest son, While Jacob was his mother’s one.

                                    ***  ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-five….(29-34)    Esau’s Careless Attitude.

Verses 29-34….

   Jacob must have loved cooking as he had a pot of lentil stew simmering over the fire one day when Esau came in from hunting feeling famished.

Rebekah must have told Jacob of God’s promise to her that he would inherit the birthright in the family, and this thought must have consumed him. However would God bring this about? He didn’t have either the faith or the patience to wait for God’s time. How often we are like this! We know what we should do, but we want it NOW, and make foolish moves to get it.

We might wonder why God said he loved Jacob more than Esau (Romans 9:10-13), but God knew what their hearts would be before they were born ; He knew that Esau would have thought or care for Him, and feel no need of Him, while Jacob would respond to Him in time. So we see that when Esau came in from hunting so hungry, that Jacob used this to get from him the promise of the birthright. In both their eyes, this was a binding promise (chapter 27:36) that could not be broken.

Jacob’s thoughts were towards God in spite of his actions, as we see later on that he acknowledged that all that he had was from God (chapter 33:5,11) while Esau is described in Hebrews 12:16-17 as being profane. He had no thought of God at all and the idea of being the spiritual head of the family had no appeal at all.

Esau couldn’t see past today, His birthright was a cheap price to pay,

He didn’t care, he was nearly through, So Jacob bought it with his stew!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-six….(v.1-34)    Overview of Isaac.

Verses 1-34….

   We aren’t told a lot about Isaac, and this chapter gives an overview of his movements. It seems that the land of the Philistines had better pastures and more chances of finding water than other parts of the country, so Isaac moved in there in response to God’s guidance…..

It was at this time that God gave him the same promise that He had given to Abraham  concerning this land, that it would one day belong to his descendants. Then Isaac fell into the same trap that his father had, fear of man, and he lied about Rebekah saying she was only his sister, not his wife. But God saw to it that they were both kept safe in spite of their foolishness in not trusting Him as they should. How often this happens to us! We miss out on opportunities to speak up through fear of what people might think!

When the king of the Philistines found out that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, he told his people to leave them alone, and once Isaac moved further away, God prospered his crops and animals to such an extent that the people of the land envied him. Then they began to squabble about the wells and availability of water.

What can we get out of this for ourselves? While we are dabbling in the world, we are leaving out spending time in the Word, our water of life. But when we come back to the Lord and spend time with Him, He will bless us abundantly, and our spiritual life will flourish.

Abimelech wanted to make an agreement with Isaac because he was strong and prospering and as we prosper in our spiritual life, people will see that we are different and will want what we have.

Isaac was God’s promised son, He followed what his father’d done,

Re-dug the water wells again, And people saw his might and main.

 

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-seven….(v.1-46)    Jacob’s Deceit.

Verses 1-46….

   We can’t be certain of Isaac’s age at this point…how old WAS old? Esau married at forty when Isaac was one hundred, and Jacob was still unmarried.  He was mostly blind by this time and thought he could die at any time and that he had better get his affairs in order by bestowing the family blessing on his favourite son…..

Little did Isaac know that he would live another eighty years! At this point Isaac would have thought that God’s promises would have gone down through Esau’s sons, but he had married into the ungodly nations of the Hivites and Hittites and had no thought of God in his life. So Isaac asked Esau to make him a venison stew and he would give him the blessing. Rebekah overheard this and we now have the story of her aiding and abetting Jacob to deceive his father into giving HIM the blessing.

We see how Esau came to his father later and found that Jacob had superseded him, and there was only a secondary blessing left for him. He was so angry with Jacob that he threatened to kill him, so Rebekah sent him off to her relatives until Esau had cooled down.

Jacob could not wait God’s way, But took the blessing, come what may,

It meant he had to leave and flee, And never more his mother see.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-eight….(v.1-9)    Results of Sin.

Verses 1-9….

   Sin always brings separation, and we see a good example of that here. Jacob had sinned against Esau and his father; Rebekah had sinned in encouraging Jacob to do what he did, and this brought Eau’s wrath on Jacob enough to threaten his life. There was only one thing to do, and that was for Jacob to leave home…..

Even though Jacob had sinned in this way, Isaac didn’t hold it against him. Once the blessing was given, it couldn’t be taken away. Rebekah used the fact of Esau’s heathen wives as a good reason for Jacob to go back to her relatives and find a wife there. Isaac agreed and once more gave Jacob the family blessing and promises that God had given him before he left home.

Rebekah little realised that she would pay so dearly for her part played in the deceit played on Isaac and that she would never see her favourite son again. Esau was still trying to gain favour with his father so he turned to his Uncle Ishmael’s family and took another wife from among his cousins. But Ishmael’s line was still from Egypt, a picture of the world system.

Believers cannot turn to the world and hope for a blessing from God, not even if we seek GOOD company…good is not godly. God does not make rules to be mean and nasty, but for our own ultimate good.

What sadness sin will bring to a place, Men fighting and killing face to face,

Jacob deceiving as well as his mother, Caused Esau to plot and hate his brother.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-eight.(v.10-22)               Jacob Experiences God.

Verses 10-22….

 Jacob now came to one of the greatest experiences of his life. In spite of him having deceived his father, God’s grace was still over him and he had this dream, which was really a vision…..

He felt he was seeing a ladder stretching from where he was sleeping right up to heaven with angels going up and down it. At the top there was this bright light and he heard God’s voice speaking to him giving him the same promises that He had given Jacob’s father and grandfather about inheriting this land. He even gave Jacob a further promise that he would never leave him, but be with him and bring him back to this same place.

Jacob couldn’t go back to sleep after this vision. He got up early, stood a stone on end for an altar and offered what little he had (oil) on it and made a vow to God saying, “IF God does as He says, then the Lord will be my God”. His vow sounds a bit lacking in faith, but it was a start of seeking for a personal relationship with God. We all have to start somewhere in our spiritual life, and God never despises or refuses a seeking and contrite heart  (Psalm 34:18).

Jacob called the name of that place “Bethel” which means “House of God”. We each one must have a “Bethel” in our lives….a place where we have begun our walk with Him and where we meet Him each day….not necessarily a physical place, but a spiritual place. God gives each of us His promises and we must accept them by faith, and live by them, then give Him back what is His due.

Jacob’s dream was bright and real, God gave His promise as His seal,

Jacob’s vow was sincere and true, As he built his altar and gave God His due.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Twenty-nine….(v.1-28)          Jacob Married.

Verses 1-28….

Jacob kept travelling east….as a man of 59, he had never been so far away from home before! He found his way to civilisation and stopped at a well where the flocks of sheep with their shepherds were waiting…..

The story tells of his meeting with his cousin Rachel, and staying with her family. Laban , her father, was brother to Jacob’s mother Rebekah. There were two girls in the family and Jacob fell in love with the youngest one, Rachel. He told Laban that he would work for him for seven years if he could marry her.

We read of wedding feast and how Laban tricked him into marrying the eldest girl Leah, not the one he wanted. We might wonder how this could happen, but the bride was heavily veiled, and no doubt Jacob had been celebrating with wine as the groom. It was the next morning that he found to his horror how he had been duped. But we see that he was reaping what he had sowed with his own brother!!

After a week’s honeymoon, he was given the girl he wanted and now not only had two wives but had to work a further seven years for her!

Jacob deceived his father and brother, Now he was deceived being given another,

His new wife was Leah, the eldest one, When all he wanted was Rachel alone.

                                   ***   ***   ***

 Genesis Twenty-nine….(v.29-35)       Jacob’s Family Begins.

Verses 29-35….

   Jacob had been a schemer and deceiver and now he himself was deceived in being given the girl he didn’t want . We might wonder about the Old Testmaent practice of bigamy, but it was NOT God’s plan for humanity. God’s order is one man, one woman, leaving their parents to start a new unit (Mark 10:5-9)

We just have to see what problems Jacob immediately encountered….there was jealousy in the family with competitiveness between the two wives and bickering among the children when they came along. Leah was jealous because Jacob loved and spent more time with Rachel than her, and then Rachel envied her sister because she had four sons and Rachel had none.

In her sorrow over having to share Jacob, Leah took comfort from her sons and recognised that each one was given by God, and she named them accordingly. Reuben (God knows what I am going through), Simeon (God has heard me), Levi (surely my husband will love me now), Judah (now I will praise the Lord). Poor Leah!  There is no peace in a two wife family!

God intends for man one wife, To care for and love all her life,

Jacob found he had problems galore, For all he’d wanted was Rachel, no more!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty….(v.1-24)        Rachel Rewarded.

Verses 1-24….

   We see here the two wives of Jacob competing in having sons. Rachel found she was not getting pregnant, so she told Jacob to take her maid and get her pregnant so she could have a son by proxy…..

So Jacob then had two sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid. When Leah saw what was happening and that she was no longer getting pregnant, she gave her maid to Jacob and she had two more sons. So this gave Jacob eight sons.

One day Rachel saw these things that Leah’s eldest son Reuben had found in the field and wanted them. Leah wouldn’t part with them  so Rachel bargained with her and said that Jacob could sleep with her that night if she could have them! It seems that there was quite a lot of bitterness between the two sisters at this point….Leah because Jacob spent most of his time with Rachel and Rachel envying Leah for her son-producing ability.

Then at long last after about fourteen years, Rachel found herself pregnant and had Joseph! She felt that God had taken away the reproach of childlessness from her at last!

Rachel could not have a son, So gave her maid to bear her one,

Leah watched and did the same, Ten sons then bore Jacob’s name.

                                   ***   ***   ***

 

Genesis Thirty….(v.25-43)       Jacob Increased.

Verses 25-43….

   Jacob wanted to leave and go back to his original home when his fourteen years of working for his two wives was up, but when he broached the subject to Laban, he didn’t get permission. Laban didn’t  want to lose his free worker. So they struck a new deal…..

Jacob told him he would take all the brindle coloured cattle and goats and the brown sheep for his wages, and build up herd and flocks for himself from these. Laban agreed to this deal as his animals had increased immensely since Jacob had been working for him.

We are not told how much Jacob thought of the Lord during these years. Jacob was an able herdsman, and regardless of his thoughts (or lack of them) God still blessed him. He had no need to resort to the tricks of cutting down poplar trees and putting the streaky coloured branches in the drinking water….God was with him and increased his flocks and herd tremendously. Jacob kept the two sets of flocks apart and his grew greater than Laban’s did.

Laban now had to give Jacob pay, And giving cattle was a good way,

God was watching and Jacob increased, Jacob grew greater, and Laban was least.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-one….(v.1-55)            Jacob Leaves.

Verses 1-55….

   Laban’s sons started to complain about the size of Jacob’s flocks thinking they should have a share of the,. Human nature hasn’t changed down through the years! But now it was God’s time for Jacob to go home….

So Jacob called both his wives together and told them that God had prospered him and now He had told him to return to his own country. The women both agreed that their father hadn’t given Jacob a fair deal and what he had gained was only his wages anyway!

They packed up and were gone for three days before Laban found out and gave chase. God intervened and spoke to Laban in a dream telling him to leave Jacob alone. So the two men confronted each other and sorted out their grievances of the past years, making a covenant before God before parting amicably.

Jacob acknowledged God’s help and provision over the years referring to Him as “the God of Abraham  and Isaac”. Laban called on God, “the God of Abraham and Nahor, the God of their father” to be witness to their agreement. Notice that it was Jacob who made the sacrifice to God….God was only a God of convenience for Laban.

“It’s time to return”, God to Jacob said, So he packed his family and from Laban fled,

There was still unfinished business to be done, Until the covenant between them was won.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-two….(v.1-23)         Time of Reckoning.

Verses 1-23….

   It might have been unpleasant for Jacob to face Laban when he left, but he had the prospect of an even more unpleasant meeting ahead of him….that of meeting his wronged brother Esau. He had sneaked away from Laban, but he knew he had to face Esau at the other end…..

The weight of his guilt over cheating him hung heavily on his mind. So he called on God, acknowledging His goodness and his own unworthiness and need and asked for deliverance during this encounter. God graciously showed him an army of angels around him encouraging him to go forward. This was the turning point in Jacob’s life….he had had a head knowledge of God all these years, but now it became a heart knowledge.

Jacob’s old scheming nature still came to the fore when he split his company up, sending a present of flocks and herds ahead for Esau to appease him if necessary. Then his wives and children were sent ahead over the river while he stayed behind. Surely he should have gone ahead of them all to meet Esau!

We have to be so careful when seeking God’s face not to manipulate or scheme, but to quietly wait for God’s timing. God is quite capable of controlling circumstances, and bringing things to pass!

Jacob still had Esau to meet, His guilt still hung over because he did cheat,

He sent a present hoping Esau to please, And waited to see if he was appeased.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-two….(v.24-32)                      Jacob’s Meeting With God.

Verses 24-32….

   We wonder why Jacob stayed back on his own….was he afraid of Esau to that extent? Or did he want to pray for protection? Perhaps he felt that he should be alone at this time……

We read  hat Jacob met someone that n ight who wrestled with him physically. Jacob was a strong outdoor man at this time and he wasn’t going to be beaten. So the Heavenly Wrestler touched Jacob’s thigh bone and it went out of joint, so he was forced to give in.

It wasn’t until Jacob admitted his name was Jacob (meaning cheater) that God was able to  give him the full blessing that He had for him. It is the same for the believer today….while we resist doing what we know we should, we will never know God’s full blessings. If we don’t give in voluntarily, sometimes God will touch our lives in a way that we are forced to look up to Him.

Jacob now became “Israel” meaning a prince of God. When a person takes Jesus Christ to be their Saviour, they then belong to the Kingdom of God, and are priests with a new name and a new nature. (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 2:9) Jacob limped from that day on, a constant reminder of his meeting with God; so we too must limp figuratively to show our dependence on the One who has saved us from our sins.

Jacob wrestled with God that night, He didn’t stop till day was light,

God’s blessing was what his heart did crave, This God willingly and freely gave.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-three….(v.1-20)           Bygones were Bygones.

Verses 1-20….

   Jacob caught up with his family once more and was now ready to face whatever Esau met him with. He had committed the whole matter to the Lord and received His promises, and was now going forward in faith. This is a good pattern for us as we face the future and the unknown….

Esau had prospered and mellowed over the twenty years since they last saw each other, and was happy to meet Jacob again. We see that Jacob acknowledged God in giving him his children and his possessions….there is no record of Esau doing this.

The two men greeted each other in a loving fashion and let the past stayed buried. Esau accepted Jacob’s gift the same way it was offered. Jacob continued at a slower pace, no doubt wondering where to settle.

He eventually bought some land, pitched his tent and built an altar to the Lord. Notice that he didn’t build his altar on another person’s land, but on his own. We cannot truly worship God on the strength of another’s belief, but have to have a personal belief ourselves. If we don’t have this yet, we are to make sure that we do.

Jacob and Esau met once more, Forgot the past with its feelings sore,

Jacob now could build his altar, Never more his faith did falter.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-four ….(v.1-31)                      Think First!

Verses 1-31….

   Dinah, like all teenagers, wanted a bit of company and fun, so she went out and mixed with the local heathen girls. In the process, she met the young prince and they fell in love and slept together……

We don’t know what Leah had taught her daughter, whether she innocently thought she could handle it all or whether she was rebellious, but she was ultimately the cause of the death of a lot of people. Jacob heard about it but didn’t deal with it himself….Dinah’s two brothers took it on themselves to sort it out. But they did it deceitfully, pretending to agree to the marriage and making an alliance with the locals.

They told the young prince that all his men were to be circumcised, and before bthey had recovered from this operation, they plundered the town and took the women and children captive. They were cruel violent men….no wonder Jacob couldn’t give them much of a commendation at his last blessing! (chapter 49:5-7)

What started out as a light hearted visit for Dinah ended up in disaster in every way and she lost everything in the process! Let’s be careful and use our head before we lose it!

Dinah never thought those days, That she was going in wrong ways,

It ended up disaster great, Let us take care e’er it’s too late!

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-five ….(v.1-7)            Jacob Full Circle.

Verses 1-7….

   The place of Bethel had special significance for Jacob. It was the place his grandfather Abraham had built his altar, and it was the same place he had slept that first night he left home. This was where God had first appeared to him in a dream and promised him protection….

Now God was telling him to go back there and rebuild the altar. Jacob called his household together and told them to put away all the idols they had with them, and to cleanse their minds (hands and head) because they were going to worship the Lord at Bethel. They did this and Jacob buried them on the spot before they started. This is a very important principle which Jacob recognized….we CANNOT worship God while we are hanging onto any idol in our life….they have to be totally got rid of, buried once and for all.

As Jacob carried on his journey after doing this, God blessed him and protected him form anyone attacking him. They reached the place, and Jacob built the alter there, calling it Bethel which means “the house of God”.  Those who know the Lord today, don’t need to go to a special place to pray, we can speak to the Lord wherever we are for whatever our need is.

Bethel was a special place, There Jacob saw the angel’s face,

Now Jacob had returned to there, And worshipped God with conscience clear.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-five ….(v.8)     Deborah.

Verse 8….

   There is a wealth of information tied up in verse eight which is so easily overlooked….

When Rebekah left home to marry Isaac, her nurse Deborah went with her. She was a companion to Rebekah all through the years of waiting for children and then came the joy of her pregnancy (her only one). She would have helped Rebekah look after the twins right from babyhood and boyhood. Her whole life would have been wrapped up in Rebekah.

Because Jacob was his mother’s favourite son, Deborah probably favoured him as well and so in a sense Jacob had two mothers. When he left home, there were two women to mourn his going and neither of them dreamed he would be away so long. We read no more of Rebekah and she never saw Jacob again.

When Jacob returned to his homeland it seems that he must have gone to his father’s  place (although we aren’t told this) to see his beloved mother but found she had died.. Her faithful nurse was still alive, so Jacob took her into his household, and this was where she was when she died.

Rebekah’s nurse went all the way, Helped with the boys from day to day,

She mourned when Jacob ran from home, And longed for his return to come.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-five ….(v.9-29)     Promises and Sorrow.

Verses 9-29….

   Jacob was now back at Bethel, the place of returning to God and worshipping Him. God spoke to him again there, re-iterating that his name was now Israel (a name that has continued for 4000 years!) and gave him the same promises that He had given Abraham at this very place (chapter 13:3-4)……

It must have been an uplifting experience for Jacob to hear this, and he set up a pillar to commemorate the spot where he had worshipped God…Bethel, meaning “House of God”. But as so often happens, after this uplifting experience, there was sorrow lying ahead. His beloved Rachel went into hard labour and died after giving birth to Jacob’s twelfth son.

Jacob was now bereft of his three most loved women….his mother, Deborah, and now Rachel. He made her burial place a special spot, one which was remembered for many years, and put a pillar of stone over it to commemorate it. (1 Samuel 10:2)

Jacob had plenty of time to see his father again, as he lived another forty years after Jacob returned from exile. When Isaac died, both his sons buried him in the burial cave where Abraham  and Sarah were buried along with Rebekah. This was where Jacob intended to be buried himself (chapter  49:29-32)

God gave again His promise of old, That Jacob would prosper in land and gold,

Would bless his house and all he had, In spite of times both good and bad.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-seven ….(v.1-2)           Enter Joseph.

Verses 1-2….

   Chapter thirty-six gives us Esau’s family tree…we wonder why this is covered so comprehensively in Scripture. Esau is always classed as a type of the flesh in
the pictures of Scripture….

Esau had three wives… two from pagan nations, and the third a daughter of his Uncle Ishmael. We see two interesting items in this chapter …(1.) that Amalek whose descendents later fought against Israel was Esau’s grandson (chapter 36:12) and (2) that the Edomites had kings long before Israel ever did (chapter 36:31).

Chapter 37 starts the story of Joseph, the eldest son of Rachel and the eleventh son of Jacob. Joseph was a different type of boy to the other sons….he was always cheerful, reliable and hardworking (we see these traits in him later on) and he would have reminded Jacob so much of his mother, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel who was now dead.

Joseph here, was helping his half brothers, the sons of the concubines (maids) in the field with the sheep. These young men were not behaving as they should is some manner, whether with the sheep of in other ways we aren’t told, but Joseph went home and told his father what they were up to. Needless to say they didn’t appreciate this, and began to taunt him. Joseph was seventeen by this time, and his father favoured him above the other sons and showed it by giving him a striped coat indicating leadership.

Jacob was now making the same mistake as his parents had, by favouring one son above the others….this should be a lesson to us that this behaviour will only bring strife and discord into a family.

Joseph was his father’s pet, This made his brothers hate him yet,

And when he told what they had done, They hated more this fav’rite son.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-seven ….(v.3-11)         Hatred in the Family.

Verses 3-11….

Because Jacob loved Joseph so much, he would have spent more time with him, and must have told him many times of the way that God had led him and met his needs over the years. This instilled in Joseph from a very young age, that God Almighty was the God of his father and he learned to follow Him for himself…he feared to offend this mighty God in heaven….

So when he saw his brothers up to mischief out in the fields, he told his father what he had seen. This fed their hatred of him. His father too, gave him the multi-coloured coat which denoted a higher rank and this fuelled their hatred more.

Then Joseph had two dreams, very vivid dreams that made a great impression on him. He dreamed they were all in the field reaping and making sheaves of wheat, when the other brother’s sheaves bowed down to his. Then the second dream showed the sun, moon and stars all bowing down to him. Jacob heard him telling this dream and rebuked him asking why should his father and mother and brothers bow down to him? But he took note of it just the same…and his brothers hated him yet the more!

Jacob told of God above, His faithfulness and His great love,

Joseph heard and took it in, This made him then aware of sin.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-seven….(v.12-36)       Joseph Sold.

Verses 12-36….

   Joseph’s brothers took the sheep off to find greener pastures, while he stayed home to look after things there. After a while, Jacob sent him off to find out how his brothers were getting on….

When he eventually caught up with them, they saw him coming in the distance. There was no mistaking the brightly coloured coat he was wearing! Some of the brothers wanted to kill him outright, they hated him so much, but Reuben the eldest, said they shouldn’t do that, but to just throw them into this empty well instead.

Poor Joseph! They grabbed him when he arrived and took the coat they hated so much from him and threw him into the pit. Joseph begged and pleaded with them not to do this (chapter 42:21-22)

Reuben must have gone off for an hour or so while the others sat down for lunch. Then they saw a camel train coming towards them and Judah had a bright idea….why not sell him to these traders and then they would be rid of him for ever! So they did this in spite of Joseph pleading with them again not to, selling him for twenty pieces of silver.

When Reuben came back to let him out, he found he was gone. He felt responsible as he was the eldest, so they took Joseph’s fancy coat and put some goat’s blood on it and then went back to their father saying they had found it like this. Jacob was now reaping the same thing that he had done to his brother in deceiving him….now his sons were deceiving him! He thought what they had intended him to think, that some animal had killed and eaten him and mourned for him for years.

Josephs brothers filled with hate, Took their chance to tease and bait,

His bloodstained coat to their father gave, When they sold him to be Egyptian slave.

 

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-eight….(v.1-30)           Judah’s Sons.

Verses 1-30….

  This chapter covers quite a period of years during which Joseph was a slave in Egypt. Judah had three sons by a heathen Canaanitish woman. With having a heathen mother, they neither knew nor cared about the God of Heaven….

The eldest boy, Er, married a local girl called Tamar. But his practices were evil and the Lord killed him. The next boy, Onan, took Tamar to be his wife so he could raise a son with his brother’s name (a common practice in those days), but he refused to do this practicing a contraceptive manner. This displeased God, and he too died. According to custom, Tamar should have been given to the third son who was still only a boy, but Judah made the boy’s youth an excuse to be rid of her and sent her back to her father’s home. He probably blamed Tamar for the other sons’ deaths.

Tamar as a widow in her father’s household, would never be able to have children and she could see that Judah had no intention of giving his third son to her. One day she tricked him by pretending to be a prostitute on the side of the road he was travelling. He fell for this ruse, and had sex with her, but she was very careful to cover herself and took his ring, bracelets and stick as payment.

Three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law was pregnant from prostitution. He immediately demanded that she be burned at the stake regardless of the fact he had already thrown her out of his household. She produced his ring , bracelets and stick as proof of his own sin, and he was forced to admit it. Strangely enough, Tamar had twin boys, and one of them became an ancestor in the line of the Jesus Christ, thus making Tamar one of the three heathen women mentioned in the genealogy of  Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:3, 5)

Judah’s sons were wicked men, God killed them both, there and then,

Judah left his daughter-in-law, But she tricked him to then have two more.

                                   ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-nine….(v.1-10)            Joseph Stands for Right.

Verses 1-10….

   Joseph as a lad of seventeen was torn away from his family and country, but there was one thing he had deep rooted which he never lost and that was his faith in God. When all else seemed gone, he hung onto that in this foreign land with its strange language…..

It was because of this, that God was with him in everything that he did. Whatever he was told to do, he did it properly and it prospered. His master could tell that he was different to all the other slaves, and he was soon put in charge of the household…he realised he had found a treasure in this young slave.

Then came temptation such as few men could resist….his master’s wife fell for him in a big way and tried to coax him to sleep with her. But Joseph was following the Lord and remained firm for what was right. He knew that to give in to this woman was to sin against God first, his master second and his own self third. This he refused to do.

If we would only realise that all sin is against God (not just “big” sins, but the small everyday things we do that are wrong). When we lie, we are really lying against all that God stands for. We have been bought by the Lord to glorify Him, not to gratify the flesh.

Let’s take heed in all we do, Doing it for God’s glory too,

He has bought us for His praise, Tis for us to walk His ways.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Thirty-nine ….(v.11-23)          Joseph in Prison.

Verses 11-23….

   Joseph’s master’s wife was a very determined woman and she never gave up…she had never been refused in this way before! One particular day, there was no-one else around and she was determined to catch him. But when she grabbed his shirt, he wriggled out of it and ran out of the house….

How important it is for us to keep out of situations where there are no witnesses! So the lady spurned was very angry and told her husband that Joseph had assaulted her, and that she had his shirt there to prove it.

So Joseph found himself thrown into prison. But was he sorry for himself? No!! He maintained a cheerful attitude and positive thoughts towards the Lord showing that the Lord was with him in all that he did. At least in prison he was free from THAT woman!

What an example to us! Whatever happens, we should remain positive and not allow ourselves to sink into the “poor me” syndrome….we are to behave just as if the Lord was there in Person watching us (which He is anyway!) (Colossians 3:24) Because of Joseph’s positive attitude he was soon promoted in the prison…the chief officer knew he could trust Joseph to do his job well.

One point that is often overloooked is that fact that Potiphar was described in verse 1 as the “captain of the guard”. In chapter 40:3 we see that the prison is described as belonging to the “captain of the guard”, and this was the place where Joseph was. So it was no wonder that he rose to top position in prison very quickly because Potiphar knew very well what a good worker and organiser Joseph was!

Joseph always did his very best, And God was with him to do the rest,

Even when things went so wrong, Joseph met the challenge with a song!

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty ….(v.1-23)         Joseph Still in Prison.

Verses 1-23….

   Joseph had two new prisoners to look after…high ranking officers in Pharaoh’s household who had offended him. One morning Joseph noticed that they were both looking sad and he asked them what was wrong….

They had both had vivid dreams that night and felt they meant something but didn’t know what. Joseph would have immediately thought of his dreams, and he realised that God might be telling them something. So he asked them what they were and they both seemed to have bad things in them.

Joseph immediately knew what the butler’s dream meant (he had seen a vine with blossoms and three bunches of grapes on it, and had squeezed the juice out and given it to the king)…in three days’ time, he would have his job back. So he told the butler to remember to tell Pharaoh of his plight as an innocent man in prison.

The baker then wondered if his dream meant the same (he had dreamed he had three baskets of breads on his head and the birds had stolen them out as he went along) , but alas it was bad news. In three days’ time, he would be taken out of prison and executed. Joseph anxiously waited to be released…but alas, the butler had forgotten all about him!

The baker and butler offended the king, A time in prison to them it did bring,

Joseph was there when each woke from his dream, And was able to tell them what they did mean.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-one ….(v.1-16)            The Tide Turns.

Verses 1-16….

   Joseph must have often wondered why God left him in prison so long. Everyone else he had had anything to do with seemed to be prospering…the woman who had lied about him and the butler had clean forgotten about him. It seems he could have been in prison up to ten years, but Joseph remained faithful in his work and to God……

Then suddenly the tide turned. How often in our lives, things go along quietly and then in a split second we have a phone call or a visit that changes everything! An accident might happen or an illness be diagnosed.

Pharaoh had two dreams in one night that bothered him immensely. None of his wise men could give him the meaning. Then the butler suddenly remembered Joseph….God’s time had come. Once again, Joseph was called on to explain dreams. He was quickly taken out of prison, shaved and showered, and went before the king. Before he even heard what the dreams were, he was careful to say that only God could interpret dreams. We have to be so careful not to take any credit for what we are able to do in the way of natural talent, but to give God the glory for what we do.

Joseph still in prison was left, Doing his tasks, and of freedom bereft,

One day they suddenly called him out, To tell the king what his dreams were about!

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-one ….(v.17-57)                       Joseph Gathers In.

Verses 17-57….

   After Pharaoh had told Joseph his dreams, he could see they both meant the same thing. He said that there were going to be seven good years of harvest followed by seven years of drought, and what the best plan would be….

He suggested that the government buy up all the surplus grain in the good years and store it away for the seven lean years. Pharaoh recognized the wisdom of this and immediately appointed Joseph to take charge….he could see that it was Joseph’s God who had revealed this to him and who better to see to it all!

So in a matter of hours, Joseph was turned from prisoner to prince. He was a man in his prime at thirty years of age and he ruled wisely and well. This was the purpose that God had allowed him to be taken off to Egypt all those years ago (chapter 50:19-20).

A lesson in this for us, is that Joseph had been faithful in the menial tasks of life, and now he was raised up to the highest position in the land. He was given a high-born wife and had two sons, and for the first time he didn’t yearn for his father back home. Pharaoh’s dreams came true, and when the seven good years finished, the famine began in earnest.

Joseph turned from prisoner to prince,, Gathered in corn form yon to hence,

Never once did his God he forget, Wherever he went and whoever he met.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-two….(v.1-24)             Joseph’s Brothers Bow Before Him.

Verses 1-24….

   Chapter thirty-six We see that this famine was far reaching and even Jacob was now feeling the pinch back in Canaan. We might wonder why God allowed him to be affected along with the heathen nations around him…..

We often hear people ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people! God always has His reasons and brings good out of the bad. We know that ALL things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28) and it is always for our ultimate good.

This time it was God’s plan to get Jacob’s family to move to Egypt, and how better than through lack of food where they were! So Jacob sent his ten eldest sons off to Egypt to see what they could buy for food. We can’t help but wonder what Joseph felt when he saw his brothers turn up one day and come before him bowing down in supplication!

His mind would have immediately gone to his dreams all those years ago, and as they flashed before him he remembered how his brothers had taunted and mocked him for them. He now spoke roughly to these men who had no idea who the handsome and well presented ruler of Egypt was in front of them .He wanted to know if his younger brother and father were still alive

Joseph not only knew them immediately, but he perfectly understood what they were saying in their own language….they probably used an interpreter to speak to Joseph. He badly wanted to see Benjamin, and told them that one of them would be put in prison until they returned with him. Meanwhile they were talking among themselves about how they had treated Joseph all those years before, not knowing that Joseph could understand what they were saying. So Simeon was taken off to prison….we wonder if he was the one who had manhandled Joseph so roughly when he was put into the pit!

God had His plan He put in place, The men had came now face to face,

Their brother now was ruler great, They bowed to him to learn their fate.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-two ….(v.25-38)                  What a Strange Trip!!

Verses 25-38….

   Joseph kkept simeon in prison for probably two reasons…to teach him a lesson for the way he had treated him as a youth, and to make sure that the brothers would return again. How badly he wanted to see Benjamin, his younger brother!

To the brothers’ horror, they discovered all their money was put back into their sacks of grain at the end of the first days’ travel. This made them afraid…what a strange trip this had been ! So many things hadn’t added up. Why had the man accused them of being spies? Why did he insist that their youngest brother come with them next time? Why had he kept Simeon in prison? And now here was their money back! None of it was making sense. Why did he talk about God?

Jacob was adamant that Benjamin was not going to take that trip…he had lost Joseph and now Simeon as well. There was no way he was going to risk losing Benjamin too! Time went by and their food supplies were getting woefully low. Reuben took it on himself to be responsible for getting Benjamin back to his father, and he reluctantly gave his consent.

Joseph’s brothers were afraid, It was the strangest trip they’d made,

Accused as spies and Simeon in jail, With money back, it made a strange tale!

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-three ….(v.1-34)         The Second Visit.

Verses 1-34….

   The famine showed no sign of easing off and Jacob’s family had run our of grain again. Jacob said they would have tob go back again, and Judah said it was no use unless Benjamin went too…

Jacob had to give in and agree; he said to take double the money and a present of spice and nuts for the governor . When Joseph saw them come f=before him again, and that Benjamin was with them, he released Simeon and told his servant to make lunch for them back at his house. How frightened Joseph’s brothers were!

They told the steward about having double money this time, and here he was talking about God again! This was a heathen country, what did people here know about God? When Joseph came in, they all bowed themselves low before him and gave him the present they had for him. Why did he keep asking about their father? And why was he so pleased to see Benjamin? It was all very strange. When they were seated at the table, they were all seated in the right order too….how did the man now who was the eldest? Why did Benjamin have twice the amount of food given to him? It was all very strange!

The brothers went to Egypt again, To get more corn and cattle grain,

Ben went too, and Simeon released, They reunited at Joseph’s feast.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-four….(v.1-34)        Whatever was Going On?

Verses 1-34….

   Joseph wasn’t finished with his brothers yet! He sent them off the next day with full sacks, plus all their money AND his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack! They hadn’t long left when they saw Joseph’s steward chasing them up…what did the man want?

They could hardly believe their ears! He was accusing them of stealing Joseph’s silver cup! They were most indignant and asked why they would want to do that, so each man opened his sack to prove their innocence. But their search showed it up in Benjamin’s sack! So they turned around and all trooped back to Joseph, once more bowing themselves low before him. He told them he would keep Benjamin with him and the rest could all go back home.

But then Judah stepped forward and pleaded to take Benjamin home for their father’s sake, and offered to stay in his place. We wonder if Joseph remembered that it was Judah who suggested selling him to the traders!  (chapter 37:26-27). He had had no feeling for Joseph’s tears and pleading twenty-two years earlier, or for his father’s distress either… now here he was thinking of his father’s feelings this time!

Joseph sent his brothers away, With sacks of corn and also the pay,

But deep within Benjamin’s sack, Was Joseph’s cup, so they all went back.

                                  ***   ***   ***

 

Genesis Forty-five ….(v.1-8)   Joseph Introduced Himself.

Verses 1-8….

   Throughout all Joseph’s years in Egypt, he never forgot the God of his father. In the bad times as well as in the good times, God was always in his thoughts….what an example to us! So when his brothers stood before him once again, he said it was God who had really sent him there….

Imagine the shock that went through the group of brothers as they heard Joseph say, “I am Joseph your brother”! They were speechless and very afraid…what would he do with them now? But he went on to say that it was really God who had sent him there to preserve their lives as there would be another five years of drought ahead of them. How often looking back we can see God’s hand at work in our lives through the bad times!

His brothers remained speechless. What could they say? Here was this despised younger brother who had niggled at their consciences for all those years now turning up again in this position of power and authority over them!  And they had bowed down before him several times!

Joseph no doubt remembered his boyhood dreams and we wonder if the brothers remembered them too! They had no reason to doubt Joseph’s word, as he would have reverted to his native speech without the use of the interpreter he used earlier. This reminds us that when we come to the Lord, He gives us an understanding that we have never had before. Just as Joseph told his brothers that all the land of Egypt and its riches were before them,  so God reaches out to us and gives us all the riches of heaven at our disposal (Ephesians 1:3, 8)…what are we going to with it all? Believe it and take it as the brothers did, or leave it in the corner and go back to our original state? It’s up to us!

When we bow before the Lord, Seek His face and read His word,

He shows us all His grace and love, Gives understanding from above.

                                  ***   ***   ***

 

Genesis Forty-five ….(v.9-28)              Joseph’s Solution.

Verses 9-28….

   Joseph was telling his brothers to go back home and bring all their families back to Egypt and he would provide for them. There were another five years of famine ahead of them….. 

It was really his full brother Benjamin that he wanted to be with the most…he could probably see little mannerisms and catch glimpses of his beloved mother in him as he spoke. He embraced Benjamin and then kissed all his brothers. He gave them wagons to take back with them to bring all the family and gear to Egypt. Pharaoh was in full agreement with Joseph’s plans, so they went back to their father loaded with good things from Joseph.

God has more good things for His people than we ever dream of or take advantage of. We are so earth bound that we don’t look enough into His word to appreciate these things and these blessings. Satan keeps us so busy with doing “good” things, that we don’t take the time to spend with the Lord, just talking to Him and having fellowship with Him.

Jacob must have wondered whatever was happening when all these wagons trundled up to his encampment! The story they had to tell was even more unbelievable….Joseph still alive! And the ruler of Egypt! Unbelievable or not, Jacob gathered his weary bones together and prepared to make the long trip to Egypt with all the family, the tought of seeing his beloved son again keeping him going.

We must act on wht we know, If in God’s Word we want to grow,

God has good things He wants to give, We must take them daily as we live.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-Six….(v.1-34)              Part of God’s Plan.

Verses 1-34….

   While Jacob was contemplating this move to Egypt, his mind must have gone back to his grandfather’s move there which was a bit disastrous. But this time, it was God’s plan….he had told Abraham many years earlier that his descendents would be in a strange land for four hundred years (chapter 15:13-14, 16)…..

This was because the promised land wasn’t ready yet to be taken and conquered by Israel…..this shows God’s mercy on these heathen nations as He said the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full at that time. Until that time came to pass, Israel couldn’t take over the land as theirs.

God told Jacob plainly that it was OK to go to Egypt, and the entire family, seventy of them, packed their gear along with Jacob into the wagons and trundled off to Egypt along with thei herds and flocks.

When they reached the land of Goshen on the edge of Egypt, Joseph met them, and what a meeting that was! He embraced his aged father and wept together tears of joy for a good while! Joseph instructed his brothers to be sure to tell Pharaoh that they were cattle and sheep men so they could stay in Goshen.

Nothing happens by chance or toss, Whether what is good or what is loss,

Now Israel’s move to Egypt’s land, Was clearly given by God’s good hand.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-seven….(v.1-12)           God’s Provision.

Verses 1-12….

   Joseph went back to Pharaoh  and told him that his father and brothers had arrived with all their belongings. He took five of his brothers to meet Pharaoh and they told him they were cattlemen as Joseph had instructed them…  

While there they asked if they could stay in Goshen. It shows the high regard that Pharaoh had for Joseph when he said they could stay wherever they liked. Take the best, he told them, and what was more he gave them the job of looking after his cattle as well!

Joseph then took his father Jacob to meet the king who was curious to know how old he was. Jacob told him and then blessed Pharaoh …how much of a blessing are we older ones to those we meet?

Joseph supplied everything that his father and brothers needed… what a wonderful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ  who protects us, provides for us and nourishes us! The Jews were in the best of the land…they were in it, but not of it, they never integrated with the Egyptians. Again this is a picture of God’s people today who are in the world but not of it (John 17:16-20). We have the peace of God in our hearts while living in this world; we are not part of it, we are just passing through!

Jacob’s fam’ly came to Goshen’s land, Taken there by Joseph’s hand,

In it there, but not part were they, Fed and protected day by day.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-seven ….(v.13-31)        Coming out of Famine.

Verses 13-31….

   There was no bread left in the land….there never is any spiritual bread in the world for the believer. All the Egyptians were suffering in this famine and so all non-believers are suffering and lacking in the things of God (Romans 3:23)….

The famine was so severe that people used up all their money and had nothing left with which to buy the grain they needed, so they then sold their animals to Pharaoh, then their land and then themselves as slaves just to get enough keep them alive. This is just the same as people who are in bondage to sin, everything they have is bound in sin and sinful thoughts and ways.

Joseph juggled the people around so that they were spread evenly throughout the land and then as the rains came again, he gave them the necessary seed to replant the land. They had to give Pharaoh 20% of their harvest and kept the rest for themselves. They were so grateful to Joseph that they did everything that he said.

Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years and felt that his time to die was drawing near. He called Joseph to him one day and made him promise that he would be buried in the family tomb back in Canaan, and not in Egypt.

The famine lasted five more years, But Jacob’s lot had no more fears,

Joseph’s rule was wise and just, In what he said, they put their trust.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-eight ….(v.1-22)           Jacob’s Blessing on Joseph .

Verses 1-22….

   Joseph was still Jacob’s favourite son, and when he heard that his father was sick, he took his two sons to see him. Jacob sat up in his bed when Joseph came and reminded him of God’s promises to him….

He said that Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim would be as his own (Jacob’s) sons. He spoke of his beloved wife’s death (Joseph’s mother) and where he had buried her. Then he gave the patriarchal  blessing to both Joseph’s  sons, naming the youngest one before the eldest one. Joseph thought his father had made a mistake, but he was adamant…the elder one would not e as great as the younger one.

Jacob remembered God’s Angel who had protected, kept and blessed him all thje years he was away from Canaan, and called on Him to bless the two boys. We see later how Manasseh and Ephraim were numbered among the twelve tribes when the land was apportioned out.

Jacob’s time was drawing near, He told Joseph of his wife so dear,

He remembered God who led always, And blessed the lads for future days.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Forty-nine ….(v.1-23)         Jacob Blesses His Sons.

Verses 1-23….

   Jacob now called all his sons to him to give them his final blessings. He named them one by one and blessed them according to their acts in the past…

Reuben the eldest, he felt should have been the leader of the clan, but he was too unstable and untrustworthy….Jacob remembered how he had slept with his father’s concubine! Simeon and Levi were cruel and vicious men, and Jacob had no praise for them. Judah was a different type and he received the blessing of praise and is immortalised by having the Ruler, our Lord Jesus Christ come from his tribe….the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). Not only that but the line of the godly kings came from his tribe.

Zebulon was told that he would have a sea-coast land; Issachar was a good plodder, Dan had common sense and was fit to be a judge.  Gad would always be in trouble but would come right in the end; Asher and Naphtali would do well. Joseph still received a fulsome blessing from his father, and truly he was blessed in his life, but Judah was the one chosen by God for the most blessed line. Benjamin would make his way OK. Jacob finished his blessings, gave instructions on his burial, and then lay down exhausted and died.

We wonder how the sons felt as they heard what their father had to say about them…it reminds us that one day we will stand before the Judge of all the Earth, and our deeds here on earth will be assessed for all to hear. What is more, we will give the account ourselves with our minds as clear as clear, of all our past deeds and misdeeds. If we have confessed our sins, they have already been covered by the blood of Christ, but we will receive rewards or losses for our deeds in this life.

Jacob now called all his sons, Gave them blessings one by one,

Told them of his burial place, And then gave up his earthly race.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fifty ….(v.1-13)          Jacob’s Burial.

Verses 1-13….

   Joseph’s beloved father had died and Joseph was once more bereft. The Egyptians were good at embalming and they immediately worked on Jacob’s body to preserve it, the process taking about six weeks (40 days) to complete….

The whole period of mourning for Jacob took just over three months, and then Joseph asked permission from Pharaoh to take his father back to Canaan to the family burial plot. Not only did the family go up to bury Jacob, but all the important Egyptian officials and their servants went as well so it was a very large group of people trekking up to Canaan.

They were escorted by chariots and horsemen for protection, and when they reached the edge of the land, they stopped for another week of lamenting and mourning. The people of the land saw (and heard) this large company, and said that it must have been a very important person who had died….as indeed it was, with Jacob being one of the founding fathers of the people of Israel.

Jacob’s sons carried his body from there to the field of Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah were all buried, and laid him to rest there.

Jacob’s body was well embalmed,   The people mourned until they calmed,

Jacob’s sons and Pharaoh’s best, Took him back and laid him to rest.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fifty ….(v.14-21)        Old Wrongs Put Right .

Verses 14-21….

   Joseph’s brothers still had guilty feelings about the way they had treated him all those years ago, and now their father was dead, they were afraid that Joseph would pay them back for it….

They had never asked for forgiveness or said they were sorry for how they had treated him. What a classic example of the results of sin! Guilt always brings fear of retribution, and now they hid behind what their father had said….”Father said to forgive us” !

At last they took the humble place before Joseph and bowed before him acknowledging their dastardly deed in genuine contrition. Joseph freely forgave them and said that he could see that it was all part of God’s plan that he be in Egypt to save their lives.

We can see a parallel here to the sinner coming to God and realising he is guilty in His sight, deserving punishment, and afraid of the consequences. We must humble ourselves before God, bowing to Him and confessing our sin (Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 John 1:9).

Joseph forgave and saved his brothers, took away their fear, nourished and comforted them. This is exactly what God does for the repentant sinner….He saves, nourishes and comforts. So Joseph and his brothers ended their days in peace in Egypt.

Joseph’s brothers  were now afraid, Until their peace with Joseph made,

The sinner must confess his sin, And God the Father takes him in.

                                  ***   ***   ***

Genesis Fifty ….(v.22-26)        God’s Plan Explained .

Verses 22-26….

   We started out with seeing that God had a plan BEFORE He began the work of creation, a plan to make a people for Himself who would of their own free will WANT to belong to Him….

God’s desire has always been for communion with a being like Himself, who could think and reason, and be grateful to Him for His goodness. He says in Isaiah 43: 7 that the purpose of Him creating man is to show forth His glory, not man’s glory which is but a reflection of His. Then again in verse 10 of the same chapter, that He has chosen His people so that they might believe and understand Him, the only One who is God, and who wants to be their King (v. 15) ; He has formed them for Himself so that they might show forth His praise (v.21).

We saw how this started off with Adam and Eve, the first two humans to be created and how Satan the destroyer, sought to ruin God’s plan for humankind by tempting them to be disobedient. They fell for his suggestions and so sin came into the world, a wrong choice that has had disastrous consequences for every single human being ever since.

From there we traced the line of those who chose to obey God, and now we have finished with Jacob whose twelve sons became God’s chosen people of Israel in the land of Egypt…a picture of God’s universal people who are in the world but not of it  (John 17: 14-16).

So we read that all this is part of God’s eternal plan where He chose His people to live holy lives through the redemption made possible by His Son our Lord Jesus Christ …even on this earth His people can be to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:4-7, 12). Let us see to it that we do our part in this wonderful eternal plan of God.

So we finish off where we started….

God’s plan was written in His Book, Of things the angels wanted to look;

He made the earth so He could show, His love and light for men to know.

                                  ***   ***   ***